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Diary Study: 
Experiences of Low Income & Limitedly Educated Voters During the 2020 Elections

Duration 
2-week study (3 weeks total)

Team 

  • Sade Ekulona (me)

  • Gema Izquierdo

  • Antoinette Dais

  • Meghan Lamb

Role 

  • Researcher

  • Analyst

Background & Purpose 

Based on the history of politicians in Baltimore City, many citizens feel a deep distrust of politicians and politics in general.

Baltimore City has a low high school graduation rate, many citizens living below the poverty line, and a low voter turnout rate. We conducted this study for our client, the Center for Civic Design, to identify barriers and understand the experiences of that voters with limited education and low income had in Baltimore City. 

Goals 

We aimed to answer the following questions through this study:

  • How do voters learn about election issues? How do they decide what to vote for?

  • How hard is it for constituents to find voting information and resources that they can comprehend?

  • How does the media hinder or aid constituents in becoming informed voters?

  • What do voters feel as they get closer to the election?

  • What part of the voting process, and leading up to it, do constituents find most helpful? Most challenging?

  • How do constituents feel about the process of voting?

Process

Graphic outline of research process

We utilized social media, craigslist, and our networks to recruit participants. Participants were between the ages of 18-75 and residents of Baltimore City with household incomes of $48,000 or less. The educational background of the participants varied, ranging from a high school diploma/GED to an associate's degree. Participants sent their responses to the daily prompts, sent every day for 2 weeks (10/20/2020 - 11/04/2020) through text message or email. â€‹

Results

Based on the responses to the daily prompts, we realized three themes among the participants:

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1. Participants were either uninformed or misinformed about at least one part of the election process.

2. Participants weren't fully aware of what they were voting for.

3. All of the participants felt anxious but hopeful. 

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ACCESSIBILITY, RESOURCES, & INFORMATION THAT VOTERS CAN COMPREHEND 

The participants seemed somewhat informed about the election, but there were still issues surrounding:

  • The number of polling places ​

  • Early voting & mail-in voting options

  • ​Poll watchers, electoral college, and recounts

  • Lengthy & hard to understand ballots

“I feel like I have half of that information but that half that I got was enough for me.”

“I mean that I didn’t expect that. It was a lot that I didn’t understand either but I just gave it my best foot.”

“Some of the things, I’m not going to say I didn’t understand because I can read, but I didn’t understand why they would...some of the things on the ballot didn’t make sense, like they were obvious, like who votes on things like that. I clicked on everything democratic or democratic party.”

THE MEDIA'S IMPACT

HINDRANCES: 

  • Conflicting Information​

  • Rumors & Biases ​

 

AIDES:

  • Encouraged to vote no matter what

FEELINGS: Anxious, Excited, & Hopeful

“Hopefully we can move past this coming out better in whatever way that looks in that we all learned a lot about each other and about our government and society and how it runs or doesn't run or what works or what doesn't work. So hopefully that this will be a pivotal moment in people's education.”

"I'm a little anxious to see who's going to win you know some of these Battleground States, who’s not going to win but I don’t feel any different, I feel the same. I knew it was going to be a long-drawn-out process.”

“I believe that everyone's vote counts and I believe voting is a very important thing in our democracy. It is encouraging to see more people going out to vote. I believe this was the biggest turnout in history. I very much believe that every person’s vote counts.”

Conclusion

This study was conducted during a global pandemic, which changed the way people went about their lives in general, but it also changed where and how people voted for the first time in years. With that being said, most of the participants did not feel that Covid-19 had an impact in this election, but based on responses, the pandemic:

​

  • Gave participants more time to research candidates and issues they were interested in

    • Stay at home orders/work from home meant more free time 

      • Research candidates (websites)

      • Watch news/keep up with updates

​

  • Was influential in teaching participants about voting methods and helping them choose which one to use: 

    • Absentee Ballots

    • Early Voting

    • Election Day Voting

​​​

With that being said, based on the responses to our daily prompts, some of the participants were still uninformed or misinformed about at least one part of the election process and/or weren't fully aware of what they were voting for.

Recommendations

Our client asked for recommendations based on the qualitative data that we collected.

FOCUS ON EDUCATING 

  • When encouraging people to register to vote, offer more education about the process of voting 

    • Offer options for virtual classes to further educate voters

    • Use social media to provide this education since most participants used this method to get informed during the election 

  • Explain in simple terms, so the average voter knows how to vote

  • Offer easy to understand information about where to vote

  • Remind voters of each election (not just the presidential election) and how important their vote is

 

CHANGE THE LANGUAGE 

  • Change the language on ballots so voters can understand what they are voting for

    • Advocate for plain language on ballots to help those with lower levels of education

    • Should be able to be understood by voters who cannot read above a 6th-grade level

Get in Touch 

  • LinkedIn
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