Why Citizen Experience?
We need to better understand the holistic citizen experience of an election cycle.
In the world of technology, the concept of user experience (UX) is fundamental to product design. It ensures that products and services are built with the user's needs, behaviors, and expectations in mind, helping to eliminate bias from the creators. This focus on UX enables designers and engineers to make informed decisions based on how the user will interact with the system, leading to improved design, increased user satisfaction, and more effective solutions.
What if we applied this framework to democracy?
In the context of elections and governance, citizens are the users of democratic systems. However, we often measure success through campaign outputs—voter contacts, fundraising totals, issue polls, and ad impressions—without fully considering how individuals experience the democratic process. This applies beyond elections to broader civic and political engagement as well. What if, instead of focusing solely on outputs, we equally prioritized understanding how citizens actually experience democracy? By shifting our lens to the voter experience and citizen experience we could better understand the true impact of civic programs and initiatives from the end user (the citizen or voter) point of view.
A Citizen-Centric Approach to Democracy
Adopting a citizen experience framework could unite technology and civic practitioners around an actionable learning practice that can transform how campaigns connect with voters and better assess cumulative impacts.
By championing a Citizen Experience (CX) framework, we could identify key factors that equip civic builders with additional tools and fresh approaches in support their efforts to create infrastructure that is more responsive, inclusive, and reflective of present-day needs and norms.
First Up: Reviewing Campaign Activities Through A Citizen Experience Framework
Researching and designing around citizen experience could help identify additional metrics—beyond traditional turnout and engagement numbers—that better reflect the impact of our collective programs. It may help practitioners to gain new insights and seek new information about the net impact of cumulative programming effects.
What is the citizen experience of an election cycle?
How do voters perceive their interactions with political campaigns?
Are we able to measure cumulative impacts of political content interactions over the course of multiple election cycles?
Can polls or focus groups help researchers learn about longitudinal sentiment from citizens as they experience multiple election cycles?
Learnings from this approach could also guide the design of new programs that not only mobilize voters but also ensure that the entire process of voting, post-election follow-up and broader civic participation is as accessible, intuitive, and fulfilling as possible.
Next: Applying Citizen Experience Framework To Civic Life
By applying the principles of user experience to electoral processes and expanding to civic life, we could gain new insights into the aspects of civic engagement and participation.
How might we improve citizen experience of service delivery from elected officials immediately after elections and periodically thereafter?
What systems are currently in place for citizens to provide ‘customer satisfaction’ feedback on their experiences with government services and civic life?
How do perceptions of government efficacy and responsiveness affect citizens' willingness to engage?
What affirming experiences inspire citizens to re-engage in democracy?
In a moment when sledgehammers, chainsaws, and blunt weapons are wielded as the tool of choice for creating government ‘efficiency’, we must push back with a clear version of what highly functional, effective and fulfilling governance could (and should) be.
Let’s use a CX framework when the time comes to rebuild after destructive disruption by staying grounded with clear vision and purpose: government by and for the people. Further, when expanding CX scope from elections and voting to broader civic life, we may need to employ a different term than citizen experience to include individuals with undetermined citizenship status who also interact with government institutions.
Why now?
After working in the political technology sector for 15 years, I’ve learned from hundreds of thoughtful public citizens, civic builders, community organizers, and design thinkers who have shed light on a range of topics related to Citizen Experience. I’m lucky to have met so many brilliant, disciplined, and hopeful civic servants putting in extraordinary effect to bring the best of America to life from every corner of this country.
Despite hard-fought victories and lessons learned from failures, many of us in the field privately acknowledge a hard truth: our current approach isn't fully working. We're building campaigns, mobilizing voters, and driving engagement—but we are held back by what we don’t understand about long-term impact of these efforts in combination with broad dissatisfaction with government.
Now is our chance to rethink and rebuild. This Substack will serve as a space to explore cutting-edge research, actionable frameworks, and real-world innovations that can reshape Citizen Experience. We'll spotlight trailblazers, test new ideas, and uncover insights that help us design a more responsive and inclusive democracy. I’d like to invite you to be a part of this: Join to share your insights, challenge assumptions, and help redefine what Citizen Experience can be.
If we want democracy to thrive long-term, we must think beyond short-term wins and table stakes. This isn't about replacing grassroots organizing or civic action with digital tools. Rather, it's about learning from UX research methodology to better design holistic engagement strategies—whether they involve technology, community organizing, or both. Often, it is indeed local, on-the-ground organizers who have been sounding the alarm about long-term effects of short-term wins at the cost of consistency.
CX methodology may provide indicators to bridge real-time citizen feedback with centralized decision-making. By understanding how people engage with civic life over time, we can design a system that strengthens participation, trust, and accountability at every level.
My hope is for this approach, and the new data and metrics we uncover, to support shifts that help restore civic participation, strengthen trust in institutions, drive lasting governance efficacy, and sustain democratic health.