Half a million ballot papers declared void - bad design to blame

Designers shouldn't chase after "prestige" work like large corporate web sites and annual shareholders' reports. Instead we should be turning our attention to things that matter. The last US general election was marred by badly designed ballot papers and systems, and last week when I voted in the European elections I had to think long and hard just to figure out where to put my cross. And now, in the London mayoral elections, badly designed ballot papers have led to half a million papers being spoilt. People who wanted to vote tried their best but were beaten by poor design.

These are the things that matter. We have so much power at our disposal to make people's lives easier, to make small changes that have huge repercussions for us, our neighbours, and our neighbourhood. These are the areas designers should be focussing on, not cake decorating.

Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Results delayed as half a million ballot papers declared void: "Hundreds of thousands of ballot papers were rejected in the London mayoral and assembly elections, amid claims that they were badly designed and voters were confused.

The results for London's 25 assembly seats were delayed because of a significant number of spoiled papers. Around 167,000 of the voting forms relating to the assembly were rejected. Another 385,000 mayoral voting forms were also declared void.

Voters in the most complex election ever held in Britain struggled to record their five votes, with many placing two crosses for their first preference in the mayoral category, instead of one. There were also problems with the bar codes at the top of the ballot sheets. Many were torn as election tellers ripped the sheets from the book of voting forms. Each of them had to be scrutinised and a decision made about whether they could be regarded as valid."