Voter Information Campaign: Pre-Event Testing of Communications Products

Contract number: 05005-180400/001/CY

POR Registration Number: POR 047-18

Contract date: 2018-09-16

Report date: 2019-01-07

Contract Value: $94,006.34 (HST Included)

Quantitative fieldwork dates: October 23 to November 10, 2018

Prepared for: Elections Canada

Prepared by: Environics Research Group

PA 10107

Executive summary

1. Background and objectives

Ahead of the 2019 general election, Elections Canada was seeking to improve two communication products: the "Have your ID Ready" poster (the Poster) and the voter information card (the VIC). Both documents contain complex information that electors need to register and to vote. Internal and external consultations indicate that both are potentially difficult to understand, which may present challenges to some electors in exercising their democratic right to vote. Mock-ups of the Poster (five, including three with the full list of ID and two with a short list of ID) and the VIC (two versions, plus a Replacement VIC) were designed and tested. The communications products reflected the requirements of the Canada Elections Act at the time of the research, which was conducted prior to Royal Assent of Bill C-76 (Election Modernization Act).

The research objectives were to:

• gather electors' opinions regarding the Poster and VIC designs, including comprehension of the messages and perceived strengths and weaknesses of the design/layout;
• assess which Poster design(s) is most likely to assist electors to easily understand the different options for proving identity and address, and search for and identify whether they have two pieces of identification that are on the Poster under option 2; and,
• assess which VIC design(s) are most likely to assist electors to easily understand whether they need to take action to register, and where and when to vote.

2. Methodology

The research involved quantitative and qualitative research to test these communications products.

The quantitative research involved an online survey with members of an online panel age 18 and over, including a general population group and individuals from target groups of interest. The survey took place from October 23 to November 10, 2018. The sample was weighted to 2016 Census data to ensure it was representative of the Canadian population by region and gender. The following sample disposition was achieved:

The qualitative research involved 27 in-depth individual interviews conducted in-person between November 2 and December 19, 2018, with the following target audiences: electors with low literacy (9), seniors aged 75+ (4), electors with disabilities (7), Indigenous electors (4) and electors without Internet access at home (3). These interviews took place in Ottawa, Gatineau and Toronto, and were recruited through service providers working with the target audiences. Eighteen of these interviews were conducted in English and nine in French.

3. Statement of limitations

As an online survey is a non-probability sample, no margin of sampling error can be reported.

Qualitative research provides insight into the range of opinions held within a population, rather than the weights of the opinions held, as would be measured in a quantitative study. The results of this type of research should be viewed as indicative rather than projectable.

4. Cost of research

The cost of this research was $94,006.34 (HST included).

5. Key findings

Quantitative findings

Voter information card

• The VIC is a highly recognizable document that is well associated with Elections Canada. For a document that presents a considerable amount of complex information in a small space, overall, the VIC was judged positively for clearly providing key information (e.g., where and when to vote, eligibility, ID requirements, where to go for more information) and for its look/layout (e.g., easy to recognize, short and concise).
• Considering the operational limits on the extent of changes that can be made to the VIC in advance of the 2019 general election, small tweaks were made to try to enhance some of the messages. The most effective of these changes was that Option A more clearly conveys there are alternate ways to vote (other than on Election Day or by advance poll). Otherwise, both versions of the VIC performed similarly well in conveying whether the VIC indicates that you are registered to vote, where and when to vote, and if the VIC is an accepted form of ID.
• Two pieces of information that the VIC is less successful at communicating (relatively speaking) is whether the voting dates and locations apply if your name is not on the VIC (just under four in ten know this is true); and, the clear identification of a replacement VIC (fewer than half say this is very clear). Neither VIC version tested performs better on these measures.
• A key finding of the research is that electors with previous experience with the VIC (particularly seniors) consistently hold more positive opinions about the clarity of information it provides than do those with less experience (particularly youth and New Canadians). That is, the performance of the VIC in conveying the necessary information is more of a function of electors relying on their familiarity with the VIC, than of different preferences for the versions by target group.
• The current postcard format is clearly preferred over an envelope or email, with only one exception: youth and New Canadians think an envelope better conveys that the information comes from a trusted source.

Have Your ID Ready materials

• The results reveal two main differences between the various Have Your ID Ready materials:
• The short-form posters more clearly convey there are three options for proving identity and residence. This is likely because they avoid confusion around whether the terminology "options" refers to the full list of ID options.
• If it were Election Day, most people would choose Option 1 and use their driver's license to prove their identity and address. However, if they could not use Option 1, the alternate ID types they would use vary depending on the ID materials they saw. Those shown the long-form tear-off sheet more often choose their health card, passport or birth certificate, while those shown the short posters are as likely to choose a utility bill or bank statement.
• There is no clear preference between the three versions of the long-form tear-off sheets. When judged independently, all three receive similar scores for the clarity of their ID information. Preference for a categorized list outweighs the 2015 (non-categorized) list when both are shown. When shown both categorized lists, images are preferred when shown after the text version, but not when shown first – suggesting the icons are not self-explanatory and benefit from the prior text explanation. The exception is among new Canadians, who prefer the images regardless of which list they are shown first.

Qualitative findings

In-depth interviews were conducted to explore in greater depth how target audiences who face greater barriers to voting participation (i.e., electors with low literacy, those with vision, cognitive or physical disabilities, Indigenous electors, seniors 75+ and those without home Internet access) relate to the communications products. The qualitative findings tend to confirm the results of the quantitative research, but also serve to explore the reasons behind those findings.

Voter information card

• The interviews confirm that participants are generally familiar with the voting process and with the VIC itself, and this familiarity often means they use the VIC to confirm their expectations, rather than reading/taking the information at face value.
• Participants find the information about eligibility, identification and where/when to vote to be clear, but are less clear about how to determine whether they are registered to vote. In the interviews, participants did not spend time on the panel above the address that refers to the registration, suggesting this text is not working as desired (on either VIC version).
• Similarly, there is room for improvement in helping electors identify and understand the VIC replacement card. The interviews confirmed that most participants do not notice the "replacement card" text, regardless of its positioning.

Have Your ID Ready materials

• Interview participants expressed preference for the long-list poster that uses images rather than text to categorize ID types. However, almost equal numbers prefer the short-form poster because it more clearly explains the three ways to prove ID, possibly because there is less information to wade through (no long-list of ID) and because the short-form posters show one picture of ID for Option 1, two pictures for Option 2, etc.

6. Political neutrality statement and contact information

I hereby certify as a Senior Officer of Environics Research that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research. Specifically, the deliverables do not contain any reference to electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leader.

Sarah Roberton
Vice President, Corporate and Public Affairs

sarah.roberton@environics.ca
613-699-6884

Supplier name: Environics Research Group
PWGSC contract number: 05005-180400/001/CY
Original contract date: 2018-09-16

For more information, contact info@elections.ca