Readability and voting. Does it matter?

  1. tsmog profile image84
    tsmogposted 16 months ago

    Voting between persons is relatively easy. You have to read one word – the candidate's last name. Place your mark, and then you're done. But what about ballot titles and summaries for things like measures. A Ballotpedia study found "The average grade level for ballot summaries was 22 years of education." Readability leads to voter roll-off or not voting. 

    Ballot measure readability scores, 2023 by Ballotpedia
    https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_measure_ … CDCB469031

    An interesting read if you are curious. If you skim about ¾ down, they offer a table with grade-level-to-read measures based on a study from 1997 – 2007. For the states of some of the forum participants, I know the results are:

    California – Associate's Degree
    Florida – Master's Degree
    Idaho – Associate's Degree
    Michigan – Associate's Degree
    New York – Ph.D.

    Is there a need to be concerned?

    Does it disenfranchise voters?

    Thoughts?

    For additional information, the education level for ages 25 and older in 2022 is:

    ** Some high school = 9%
    ** High school diploma = 28%
    ** Some college = 15%
    ** Associate degree = 10%
    ** Bachelor’s degree = 23%
    ** Graduate degree = 14%

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