I wanted to look at the election results from yesterday, so I went to the website of the Michigan secretary of state.
What did I find when I clicked through to the election results page, and specifically (say), the page for the governor’s race? A mess. The SoS site does not present the statewide vote totals of each candidate on one screen. (Note: I’ve got a 17-inch monitor, so screen size isn’t the problem.) Instead, I’ve got to scroll through several screens of county-by-county results, and remember, when I get to the bottom of my scrolling, what I saw at the top.
Among the problems of life that government touches on–education and health care, to start with–a poorly designed website is pretty low on the list, I’ll admit. But organizing elections and giving the public vote totals ought to be one thing that government gets right.
Is that too much to ask?
From The Detroit News:
http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/watercooler/index.php?blogid=445