Remember November 7, 2000? The fateful day when the voting system failed us, bad design failed us, which ultimately lead to the court determining who won the US election? The ballots in Florida that failed to count each citizen's vote was a failure on design, which failed humanity. Design For Democracy is about to bring true democracy to the United States by bringning good design to the voting system.

Steven Melamed, from Tres Design is a member of the board of directors for Design for Democracy, an all volunteer non-profit organization.
They are solving problems through graphic design, industrial design, and interaction design. They are redesigning the entire voting systems with grants awarded by the government. One such example is the instruction manuals for election judges at the voting centers that explains setting up the the voting machines. They reduced a complicated 10 step instruction booklet to 4 steps. There was also a law whcih stated that the names on voting punch cards had to be written in all-capital letters. Steve and his organization were able to change laws like this so that the entire voting system is easier and more intuitive to use for voters.

Their success has lead to more opportunities - including education. They are exhibiting the new designs that were made for the state of Illinois, Oregon, and Maryland in the Smithsonian. This August they will be part of an exhibit at the Pompidou center in Paris. The international impact that US elections have had will certainly interest the global populace how our voting system will be improved. Design for Democracy is looking for volunteers to design and participate in this problem that affects the entire world.