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Goodwin have worked in partnership with Opt/Pakflatt for over 16 years, designing plastic products used in voting worldwide.

Ballot Boxes
Adamant that even the traditional ballot box could be improved upon, Pakflatt's Managing Director, Patrick McGonagle, canvassed Goodwin's opinion. The shortcomings of steel boxes were manifest: heavy, sharp-edged and difficult to carry, they also spend the bulk of their lives in storage. The obvious solution of a lightweight collapsible box raised its own problems. Fold-down rigid panels would not be secure, as they would involve joints or seams through which ballot papers could fall out – or be stuffed in by the unscrupulous!

Goodwin elected to go for a plastic blow-moulded bellows (top left), which can be squashed flat for storage but still provides a high capacity when needed. Portable and cost effective, the one-piece box is also tamper proof. It even floats, making it ideal for countries where ballot boxes are often transported to remote areas by boat.

The boxes cut their teeth in the 1999 devolution elections for England and Wales, and were awarded Millennium Product Status in 2000.

Ballot Boxes 2
Goodwin have also developed a rigid 'stackable' ballot box (second left) with a two-part lid that fits inside for storage. It is available in clear moulded plastic for countries that require ballot boxes to be seen to be empty before voting commences.

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Ballot Booth
We designed a low-cost ballot booth primarily for use in developing countries. It is easy to assemble, waterproof, and stores flat for transport or storage (second right). Since most booths do not see the light of day from one election to the next, Goodwin felt it was more sensible to design the booth so that it could be used for other purposes between ballots. Post-election, the booth instantly transforms into a desk or cafe table – it even has a hole for umbrella!

Selector
Owing to a change in the law, Goodwin were asked by the Home Office to devise a way to help blind and partially sighted people vote without assistance. Traditionally they had to take an assistant into the booth to help them cast their vote. The law insists all ballot papers be the same ­ so that ruled out any electronic systems.

Devised by Goodwin, and manufactured by Pakflatt, Selector is a template with a series of 'doors', each of which is marked, with an embossed number and with the Braille equivalent. The voter can locate the correct door by touch and thus make their mark in confidence (right). Selector can be cut to length to suit the size of any ballot paper.

Over 60,000 Selectors were ordered by the Home Office for the 2001 General Elections and the Design Council chose it as one of the hundred best examples of British Design for the Great Expectations Exhibition in New York.