Ballot Measure Font Size Controversy: 11-Point Arial Declared ‘Shouty,’ 9-Point ‘Cowardly’

MAPLE COUNTY — The county’s sample ballot has a new look this year, and not everyone is happy about it. The Ballot Typography Subcommittee’s decision to set all measure text in 11-point Arial has drawn fire from critics who call the typeface shouty, aggressive, and — in the words of one resident — like being yelled at by a font.

The subcommittee, chaired by retired print shop owner Norm Bevins, defended the choice as a readability measure. Eleven-point Arial is the most legible option for aging eyes, Bevins said. We tested it. We printed samples. My mother read it without her glasses, and she has not read anything without her glasses since 2011.

The opposition, an informal group calling itself the Typography Concerned Citizens, argues that 11-point is excessive and that the ballot’s 14 measures now feel like they are arguing with the voter. Spokesperson Ellen Marsh — no relation to the town hall seating chart’s Ethel Marsh, though she says she understands the confusion — proposed 9.5-point as a compromise, calling it confident but not pushy.

Bevins rejected 9-point outright, calling it cowardly, and dismissed 10-point as the font size of indecision. The subcommittee voted 4-1 for 11-point, with the dissenting member filing a minority report printed, pointedly, in 9-point Times New Roman.

The debate has spilled into the broader ballot design. The subcommittee also standardized candidate names in bold 12-point, office titles in 10-point italics, and the instructions — PLEASE VOTE BOTH SIDES — in 14-point red, a choice Bevins calls impossible to miss and one voter called alarming but effective.

Accessibility advocates have praised the larger type, noting that the county’s senior population has grown 18 percent since 2020. The county’s paper supplier confirmed the bigger font added four pages to the ballot, a cost increase the elections office absorbed by switching to a thinner paper stock, which one poll worker described as delightfully crisp.

The Typography Concerned Citizens have vowed to continue their campaign, distributing magnifying glasses at the farmers market with a card reading: IF THE BALLOT SHOUTS, SHOUT BACK — VOTE. Bevins called the stunt clever and the magnifying glasses unnecessary, which the group took as a compliment.

Sample ballots mail next week. Voters are encouraged to read them carefully, in whatever point size speaks to them, and to remember — as the instructions say, in 14-point red — to vote both sides.