Vote.gov & HealthCare.gov | Pixel Audit

MayaPicture it: It's the last day to register. You're twenty-two. You've never done this before, and the page wants you to pick your state before it'll tell you anything.

GrantAnd you're already late.

MayaAlready late. A little panicked. Phone at nine percent. I mean, come on.

GrantOkay, that's a rough Tuesday.

MayaThis is UX Autopsy. I'm Maya, that's Grant, and we're taking apart two government flows that peak in the same stretch.

GrantThe November third midterm election on one side, and healthcare.gov open enrollment starting November first.

MayaTwo deadlines, one calendar. Wait, really? Nobody planned that?

GrantNobody planned that.

MayaAnd here's what gets me. Neither site gets to hide behind a funnel. There's no conversion metric to blame, no growth team to shrug at.

GrantRight. If the form fails, nobody writes it up as a bad quarter. A person just purely gives up, and that's the part we're auditing.

MayaHere's my bet. A failed registration form is the worst bounce in product design. No retargeting email, no second chance. Someone just doesn't vote.

GrantHmm. I'd say these sites are constrained, not lazy. Plenty of the rules aren't theirs to write.

MayaThat sounds like a lawyer's excuse, Grant.

GrantIt sounds like someone who's read the fine print. We're not settling it today, by the way.

MayaShocker.

GrantFirst, the front door. What Votegov actually does and what it can't.

MayaOkay, so show me the door.

GrantStart with what Votegov can't do. It can't tell you the rules because there isn't one set of rules. Every state writes its own, and they keep changing.

MayaChanging how often? Like yearly?

GrantThe Voting Rights Lab put out a nonpartisan report on seven battleground states. It tracks rules changes since the twenty twenty-two midterms: ID requirements, voter roll verification, citizenship checks.

MayaSeven states. Seven.

GrantAnd one example in there is a ninety-day window to supply proof if you're registered and then flagged as ineligible. Another is Ohio changing its ID rules, so a federal page that tried to show all that would be wrong by next month.

MayaOkay, but I mean, come on. That's your defense? It's hard to keep current?

GrantIt's a real constraint, Maya. Vote.gov can't own state rules, so the handoff isn't laziness, it's the only honest move. Point at the state. Don't guess.

MayaAnd the person on the other end doesn't care whose rules they are. They tapped register. They want to register. Nobody sitting there thinks, "Ah, federalism."

GrantFair.

MayaWalk me through the click path, though. She lands on vote.gov, taps register, picks her state, and gets sent over. What does she need to know the second she crosses?

GrantThree things: that she just left the federal site, whose rules she's under now, and what her deadline is. If any of those is missing, she's guessing, and she's guessing on deadline day.

MayaAnd in her head, it's one seamless trip. Nobody budgets attention for a baton pass.

GrantWhich is why the handoff is the product, not the button on vote.gov, the moment right after it.

MayaSo let's look at where the handoff lands. New York, say, the state board's official page for this election.

GrantGo.

MayaShe says an in-person registration application has to be received by October twenty-fourth. Received. Not mailed, not started. Received.

GrantHmm. That one word is doing a lot of work.

MayaRight? And then the same page separates registration deadlines from the deadlines for changing your party enrollment or your address. Three different clocks.

GrantWhich is perfectly logical if you're an election lawyer. Different actions, different processing.

MayaBut I'm twenty-two and moving apartments. Do I even know which clock I'm on?

GrantNo. And you won't find that out on Votegov. It's sitting on the state's site in the state's wording.

MayaWait, so the one place that could explain it in plain language isn't allowed to?

GrantNot allowed or not able. Depends who you ask. I lean towards not able.

MayaI lean towards somebody should have built a bridge.

GrantFine, but a bridge to what? NewsNation ran a state-by-state guide on September thirtieth saying there's still time to register, though the deadline is fast approaching in some states. Some, not all.

MayaWhich is a sentence that makes my stomach drop, honestly. Some states. Am I some?

GrantThat's the whole problem. The guide has to be state by state because the answer is state by state. Anything simpler is a lie.

MayaOr a good UI. Those exist, you know.

GrantName one that's accurate in fifty places.

MayaI can't, yet. But I'll say this, a lawyer-proof page and a user-proof page aren't the same page.

GrantAgreed on that much. The handoff is where it gets rough. Let's see what the stressed first-timer hits on the other side.

MayaOh, I've got a screen in mind.

GrantOkay, take Florida. A local news explainer from clickorlando.com dated October fourth says online updates need a Florida driver's license or ID.

MayaFine. Most people have one.

GrantPlus the last four digits of the Social Security number. Without those, the explainer says you download a paper form and mail it to the county supervisor of elections.

MayaMail it. In this economy?

GrantI know. But walk it as a design exercise. Our first-timer clicks register online, and the page asks for an ID she may not have. Where does the paper route show up?

MayaThat's the whole question, right? If it's a link buried under the form, it's a dead end wearing a disguise.

GrantOr it's a clear second door sitting right beside the first one with words like, "No ID? Do this instead."

MayaI'd bet money on the buried version. I'm not saying I've seen the screen, though.

GrantSame. I won't assert how it looks. I'm grading the question, not the pixels.

MayaOkay, so let's do red flag, green flag. Fallback path first.

GrantRed flag conditionally. A fallback that only appears after you fail is a trap. Green if it's named up front before she types a single digit.

MayaHmm. Because by the time she fails, she's already spent her patience.

GrantExactly.

MayaAnd think about who this is: a first-timer, maybe no social memorized, maybe no license. The people who most need the second door are the least likely to go hunting for it.

GrantRight. And the wording around it matters as much as the link. A vague error tells her nothing. Something that says, "We can't verify this online, here's the paper route," tells her what to do next.

MayaDeadline wording. I say red flag automatically.

GrantAutomatically? That's lazy.

MayaWait, you're defending dates now? Come on. Mailing a form means the date has to mean something different than clicking submit. Is it sent by or received by?

GrantFair. For a paper route, that's the one line that matters. Red flag unless it's spelled out.

MayaTold you.

GrantOne more on that. Plain words beat legal words. Postmarked and received mean different things to a stressed person, so say which one you mean.

MayaAnd put it near the thing she's about to mail, not in a paragraph at the bottom.

GrantHandoff clarity. This one I'll call green if the page tells her whose site she's landing on and why.

MayaAnd if it just dumps her on a county page that looks like a 2009 internet?

GrantThen she thinks she's been phished. And honestly, I'd hesitate, too.

MayaNo way. You'd click it.

GrantI'd click it. I'd also check the URL twice, and I do this for a living.

MayaThat's the tell. So the paper form isn't even the hard part. It's whether she believes the page at all.

GrantBefore we leave flags, one more: a page that says the clock is ticking but not which clock, red.

MayaRed, red, red. A deadline with no label is just anxiety with a number on it.

GrantAnd believing a page depends on whether she can actually read it, hear it, and tap through it.

MayaOh, that's the other half of the front door. What does someone on a screen reader or a shaky hand need from that handoff?

GrantLet's walk it step by step. Let's walk it, like I said. Quick aside first. USAGov put out a post called Making Vote.gov Accessible to All Voters. It went up June 25th, 2024.

MayaOkay, and what did it find?

GrantNo idea. I'm not gonna pretend I know. I'm pointing at it so people can go read it themselves.

MayaFair. We already have the handoff basics. Say you're leaving, show the deadline, name the other route. So what's new for someone on assistive tech?

GrantWhether it's said out loud, for starters. A screen reader has to announce that you've left Vote.gov, otherwise a blind user lands on a state page and thinks they're still on the federal one.

MayaAnd the keyboard order. Can you tab through in a sensible sequence? No mouse, no hover menus.

GrantRight. And does the deadline get read out before the form fields? Reading order is the design.

MayaBecause a panicking user on a screen reader doesn't skim. They get one line at a time.

GrantWhich is why I'd test it with a real person, not just an automated checker.

MayaPlain, short sentences help there, too. Read it once and get it.

GrantHmm. And I'll say this plainly: the hardest problem on this front door isn't the buttons. The rules and the deadlines belong to the states.

MayaOkay, fine. That one's real. Vote.gov can't rewrite 50 rule books, and I'll give you that.

GrantThank you.

MayaDon't gloat.

GrantI won't, because here's my concession: owning no rules doesn't excuse someone being confused. The user still lands there, and they still don't know what to do next.

MayaSo the constraint is real and the confusion is real.

GrantBoth.

MayaBut is that the worst bounce in product design? A failed registration that's not a lost sale, that's a lost vote.

GrantI'd still say constraints change what you can fix.

MayaAnd I'd say the user doesn't get a refund on a missed deadline. We're not settling that today.

GrantNope. Different fight, different site. Healthcare.gov next, where the deadline itself is what trips people up.

MayaOh, I've been waiting for this one.

GrantOkay, the dates. Open enrollment on healthcare.gov runs from November 1st through January 15th. A health insurance guide dated September says CMS confirmed that back in August.

MayaWait, back in August? Why was there anything to confirm?

GrantBecause there was a court fight. A rule would have ended the window on December 15th, and that guide says the longer window survived.

MayaHuh. So December 15th is dead?

GrantNo, and that's the trap. December 15th still matters. It's the deadline if you want coverage starting January 1st.

MayaOh, no.

GrantPick a plan after that, and usually coverage starts February 1st.

MayaSo two dates, both real, both called deadline.

GrantBoth called deadline, yes.

MayaI mean, come on. Picture the banner. Open enrollment ends January 15th. Big, friendly, done. Someone reads that and thinks, "Great, I've got until the middle of January."

GrantAnd they do. They can enroll, but they've also skipped a month of coverage without anyone telling them.

MayaWhich for a person with a prescription is not a small thing.

GrantExactly. And I'll defend the site a little. Both dates are true. You can't delete either one.

MayaSure, but true isn't the same as shown well.

GrantAgreed. So how would you show it?

MayaTwo labeled lines: Last day to enroll, then right under it, Last day to start coverage: January 1st. Same size, same weight, side by side.

GrantHmm. I'd go further and tie it to the choice. Once you pick a plan, the confirmation screen should say the start date out loud: "Your coverage begins February 1st."

MayaOoh, I like that. A surprise on day one of the new year is the worst time to learn it.

GrantRight. A banner is a promise about the whole season. The confirmation is the one place the date becomes personal.

MayaOh, a banner that says two things might get skimmed.

GrantProbably, which is why the shorter, earlier date probably needs the louder treatment. Most people will see it, and one of them is a month off.

MayaWhat about the person who sees both dates and still freezes? Two deadlines, one a month earlier, and money's tight. Which one wins?

GrantThat's where the interface should do the thinking. Say what each date means for her. Pick by December fifteenth, and coverage starts January first. Pick after that, and it usually starts February first. Let her choose with that in front of her.

MayaWait, one more thing. There's sketchy stuff online claiming the window got cut to December fifteenth.

GrantYeah, that guide flags one low quality site saying exactly that. Wrong, and the January fifteenth date is confirmed by multiple sources.

MayaWhich makes a muddy official banner even riskier. People Google it and land on garbage.

GrantAnd that's the quiet cost of a banner nobody can parse at a glance. People go verify it elsewhere, and they tend to trust whatever sounds Confident.

MayaConfident and wrong can beat accurate and fuzzy. So the lesson for the banner is say the true thing plainly and say it first.

GrantFair. Okay, so the dates are sorted. The harder test is plan comparison now that money got tighter and whether that screen holds up.

MayaOh, that one I have opinions about.

GrantOkay, price. An article called What Changed for Twenty Twenty-Seven Open Enrollment published in mid-September says the enhanced subsidies are gone. Premiums are climbing, and the repayment caps are off.

MayaRepayment caps. Wait, say what that does to a normal person.

GrantI'll stay with what the article says. It lists the caps as off. I'd want any screen to explain what that means in dollars before someone clicks enroll.

MayaMm, because nobody reads caps are off and relaxes.

GrantRight. And there's a second piece of context. A guide dated September cites two straight years of double digit premium increases, plus insurers leaving.

MayaInsurers leaving. So your plan might just not exist anymore.

GrantWhich means the comparison screen has a job beyond sorting. If your old plan vanished, it has to say so plainly.

MayaUgh, totally. Picture the person. Rent went up, groceries went up, and now they open a table with forty rows.

GrantForty rows and a sort menu defaulted to something clever. I'd call that the trap. And the vanished plan, what does that screen even say? Plan unavailable and a shrug?

MayaIt should say what happened, make clear it isn't her fault, and put the closest options right there. She shouldn't have to reverse engineer why her plan is gone. Okay, so what's the checklist? Because I don't wanna grade the live screens. I haven't walked through them with a cart full of real data.

GrantFair. This is a checklist, not a verdict. One, show the real monthly cost after help up front, not a teaser number that changes three screens later.

MayaTwo, the deadline travels with you every step, same spot, no hunting.

GrantThree, trade-offs sit beside the price. Deductible, doctors, drugs. If a cheap plan has a brutal deductible, that belongs in the same glance.

MayaAnd four, hide nothing. No details link doing the work of a warning label.

GrantYes. If the bad news needs a click, people will skip the click.

MayaLet's go back to the repayment caps for a second. If a screen can't explain it simply, what should it do?

GrantGive one worked example in plain dollars near the enroll button and label it as an example, not a legal paragraph. And again, I'm saying what a screen should do, not claiming what the live one does.

MayaLightning round. Red flag or green flag? Go.

GrantOkay.

MayaPremium shown with no mention of subsidy status.

GrantRed. Which subsidy? Mine? Whose? Deadline pinned in a sticky header.

MayaGreen. Boring, helpful, love it.

GrantLowest price sorted first by default.

MayaHmm, yellowish red. Cheapest is not the same as best, and the cheapest one is often the scary deductible.

GrantAgreed. Next, a side by side compare that lets you pin three plans.

MayaGreen. Three is a number a tired brain can hold.

GrantPlan name that changed since last year. No note about it.

MayaBig red, especially with insurers leaving. Don't make me guess what happened to my plan.

GrantLast one, a summary at checkout restating cost, deadline, and coverage start.

MayaGreen with a bow on it.

GrantNotice what the greens have in common? They repeat the same few facts: cost, deadline, start date. Nothing clever.

MayaRight. And the reds all make her do math or guess. When money's tight, guessing is the thing she can't afford.

GrantOkay. That's healthcare.gov. Time to wrap up and hand you something to steal.

MayaOoh, and I've got one picked out.

GrantOkay, the thing to steal, put the deadline logic and the fallback path on the screen where the person decides, not in a help page, not behind a question mark icon.

MayaBecause nobody clicks help when they're panicking. I mean, come on.

GrantRight. I've sat across from sellers who buried the bad news in paperwork I'd only read after signing. Same move, nicer font.

MayaNicer font. Okay, but does this work for your stuff? Like a SaaS sign up and an onboarding flow.

GrantTotally. Whatever the user can't do or whatever date can bite them, show it right next to the button. If you'd be embarrassed to put it there, that tells you something.

MayaOoh, that's a good test.

GrantIt's cheap too. Ten minutes with a screenshot.

MayaAnd the worst bounce bat stays open for the record.

GrantIt does. I'll stew.

MayaGood. Okay, your turn listeners. Screenshot a UI that bugs you and tag us. We'll audit the good ones.

GrantSubscribe so next week's audit lands on your phone. And if this changed how you look at your own designs, leave a review. It helps more than you think.

MayaGo check your own deadline screen tonight. See you next time.

GrantAnd I'm still looking for the one car I should have kept. Bye everybody.