hanging chad

Prior to the introduction of paper balloting, polities in the United States cast their vote in a variety of fashions including standing on opposite sides of the road during a roll-call or signifying one’s support with kernels of corn, and as we learn from this review from Hyperallergic prior to the advent of secret voting straight party ballots were dispatched by political parties to the faithful of Alicia Yin Cheng’s study This What Democracy Looked Like and the evolution of the enduring, ephemeral tools of voting from the perspective of history and graphic design. It is interesting how typography and format can be used to nudge and obfuscate and how the dazzle and economy of space reveals the complexities of the law and hierarchy of elected office. Much more to explore at the link above.