Product Framing

Problem statement

We know from the Center for Civic Design's epic journey of American voters that voters start learning about the election by finding out what is on their ballot. But when they get that ballot, voters often don't have enough information to make educated decisions about how to vote. Ballot questions are often convoluted, and it isn't easy to find unbiased, concise information about what voting yes or no on the question actually means. It's also difficult to find information about local candidates, and voters sometimes end up in a situation where they have no idea which of two unknown candidates to pick on their ballot. There are plenty of resources for nationwide elections, but it's difficult to find similar resources for state and local questions and candidates. OpenMaine wants to fill that gap for Maine's elections.

Our vision

To be an unbiased resource where Maine voters can find out what's going to be on their ballot, better understand the meaning and impacts of ballot question decisions, and be able to choose between candidates on local ballots.

Key scenarios

• A Maine voter wants to know what will be on the ballot when they get to their polling place, so they can do research before they go to vote.
• A Maine voter sees a sign for "question 1" on a state or local question and wants to know what the question is and get background information to make a decision before voting.
• A Maine voter gets their absentee ballot and has no idea about the difference between two unknown local candidates and wants to find information about each before making a decision.
• Somebody new to Maine doesn't know how voting in Maine works and wants to find out how they do things like register to vote, how to find their polling place, and what's different about voting in Maine from how things were where they lived before.

Product goals

• Voters can come to Maine Ballot and find out as much information as possible about what will be on their ballot and how to get that ballot.
• Voters can use the information on Maine Ballot to understand and make an educated decision about how to vote.
• Present ballot questions in plain language that answers questions voters have about the ballot questions.
• Voters don't feel like Maine Ballot is biased toward any political view.

What we're not trying to do

• We won't cover nationwide elections
• We're not trying to influence how people vote or campaign for or against a particular candidate or question

Risks

• Information for local elections is difficult to find and in inconsistent formats.