| You were in a hurry. Does this describe your last voting experience?You walked in, waited in line, signed in and entered the voting booth.Was there enough light when you got there?
It's your brain that defines images out of the impulses that come to your eye. The brain needs a minimum of information to discern an image. It needs sufficient TIME, SIZE, LUMINANCE and CONTRAST.
A paper ballot is small and has lots of serif lettering on it. It takes undisturbed concentration to get that punch into the correct holes. The SIZE of the lettering is small. And, because the pages may be glossy as they are in some counties, reflected glare from the light source can make the CONTRAST low. Though, legally you have all day, you naturally limit yourself to finish quickly. Effectively, your TIME is short. Since these three factors are low then the fourth factor, LUMINANCE must be high so we can see.
The act of voting
Voting is a difficult visual task. You need lots of light to see well. And , if you're older, you need a lot more.
So, how much light do we want in that booth?
The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America makes recommendations for light levels required for particular tasks. In the most recent version of The Lighting Handbook a recommendation of 100 footcandles is given for "critical seeing", like "serious reading in a chair". That's if you are 20 years old. The act of voting is a task not listed but is arguably one of our most critical seeing tasks. The handbook notes that a 60-year-old needs 3 times the light. That means 300 footcandles is the recommended light level for seniors.
We argue for at least 300 footcandles on that ballot so that everyone can see clearly enough when they exercise their right to vote. The LUMINANCE or brightness of the ballot image would then be high , compensating for the other factor's diminishment. The young voter's eyes easily compensate for brightness levels. Seniors cannot compensate nearly enough for dimness.
Given the Election 2000 problems, the punch card voting device is probably on its way out. We will likely see an effort to standardize on electronic voting screens. Will that in itself solve the lighting problem? Not likely. If no special action is taken, glare on the screens will be a big problem. And, just as with low light levels, glare is much harder on a senior's vision.
We as a nation must no longer rely on polling place lighting condition happenstance. Because lighting design is our business, we know how important light direction and level is to seeing. Its not good enough to just provide any old lighting. Now is the time to be more aware. We urge everyone to be mindful that correct lighting is made available to help eliminate unnecessary confusion. In Election 2000, the enormous cost of confusion has been unimaginable. The opportunities for updating are here.
Copyright 2001 VISUAL TERRAIN, INC.
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