A team of University of Michigan School of Information students will use their skills in user experience research and design to improve how the state of Michigan communicates election results, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced today. 

During a press conference in Detroit, Secretary Benson unveiled the Michigan Voting Dashboard, a new tool from the Michigan Department of State that provides real-time data on early voting and absentee ballots. Updated daily during active election periods, this dashboard offers a user-friendly snapshot of voting metrics. 

UMSI students will aid in a future phase of the project: the development of a dashboard focused on election results. The students’ project, which aligns with U-M’s Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment and Global Engagement, aims to increase Michiganders’ trust in the democratic process by making election data more accessible and transparent for voters and other key stakeholders.

“Information changes everything,” said Secretary Benson, echoing UMSI’s motto. “Official sources of information are more important than ever to help center our conversation on facts and on the rule of law. Making those official sources of information more accessible, more user-friendly and easier to understand will make them more useful to all of our citizens. It also will help us prebunk misinformation and build trust in our elections.”

Historically, the MDOS has published election results, voter turnout by county, and registration totals in simple tables on its website. Now, Secretary Benson is looking to leverage UMSI students’ expertise in UX research and design to display this information in a more engaging format that prioritizes users' needs.

Kathleen Andonian, Susan Cheng, Jackson Gelbard, Allison He and Dylan Siewert — all seniors in the Bachelor of Science in Information program — are undertaking the yearlong project as part of their User Experience Design Capstone. All five students listed this project as their top choice. 

The invitation to attend a press conference with the Secretary of State was unexpected and exciting, the students said — it helped them understand how much potential their project has to make an impact. 

“UMSI students are shaping the future by tackling challenges at the intersection of people, technology and data,” said Andrea Forte, dean of UMSI. “We are proud to have the opportunity to partner with the Michigan Department of State and highlight the university's commitment to elevating expertise and applying research that enables democracy to flourish.”

Collectively, the team hails from Michigan, California, Massachusetts and New York. But they have a lot in common. 

“We all grew up in an increasingly polarized political atmosphere,” Cheng shared. “I feel like it's our duty to leverage what we've learned at UMSI as a way to bring information to people. I think that's really powerful.” 

As a student registered to vote in a swing state, Gelbard made it a goal this summer to get more involved in the election, going door-to-door to hand out registration materials. “When I saw this project where I could integrate my learnings in UX to provide something that would assist with future elections, I knew right away that this was something I wanted to be a part of,” he said.

For Siewert, who grew up in Ann Arbor, the project hits especially close to home. He believes local elections matter just as much as the presidential election. But many people are less informed about elections within their state. Siewert said tools like the MDOS dashboard are an important way of educating voters and giving them resources.

In the coming months, the team will conduct user research to assess the needs of five key stakeholders: voters, media, elected officials, candidates and election clerks. Understanding these perspectives is crucial; for example, journalists rely on election data to produce informed stories, while clerks use this data to analyze voter behavior and ensure more residents can cast their ballots in the future. 

Based on their findings, the team will provide strategic recommendations on UX design and data visualizations for a public election results dashboard that empowers all stakeholders — from elected officials to everyday citizens. 

“We're going to be able to transfer a lot of our user research skills in order to help design something that will serve those communities,” He said. “And hopefully, we can create something that has real-life impact.”

“We really see this new and improved dashboard as a way to help citizens trust election data more,” Gelbard added. “Eliminating misinformation and having this be a single source of truth for election data in Michigan is a goal of all of ours.”

Lead image: BSI students Jackson Gelbard, Dylan Siewert, Susan Cheng and Kathleen Andonian pose with Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson following the press conference at Cadillac Place in downtown Detroit.

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