Imani Oakley Explains the New Jersey Ballot

Produced and directed by Richard C. Ledes

Imani Oakley is running for the U.S.House to represent the 10th district of New Jersey on November 8th, 2022.  Her politics pursue social justice as represented in the last U.S. presidential election by Bernie Sanders. Frankly, that’s one of the reasons I like her–but that is not the reason I wanted to make this video about her and share it with you. 

Part of her strategy is to make New Jersey voters aware of the manipulation purposely baked into the visual arrangement of information on the New Jersey ballot. I have been interested in the history of the visual display of information going back over a decade when I first read the works of Edward Tufte in connection to website design. However, this is the first time I have been able to explore it in a film. 

Don’t think if you are not a voter in New Jersey’s 10th congressional district this video will hold no interest for you. Oakley’s strategy of empowering voters by making them aware of how they are being manipulated crosses political lines and is “eye-opening.”