Systems and methods for remaking ballots

• US 10,186,102 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2017
• Issued: 01/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Election Systems & Software Incorporated, Votem EC, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Everyone Counts, Inc. (Votem Corp.)
• Inventors: Contorer, Aaron, Mostafavi, Sean, Goode, Jim, Kaplan, Elan, Hicks, Carolyn, Thomason, Jon
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tardif, David
• Application Number:
  US15/484,071
• Publication Number:
  US 20170213407A1
• Time in Patent Office: 652 Days
• Field of Search: 235386
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1794 Details of file format conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 13/00 Voting apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 13/02 Ballot boxes

Abstract

Voter-generated ballots created using consumer-grade printers are remade to ballots scannable by specialized ballot scanners. The voter-generated ballots include a machine-readable indicia, such as a two-dimensional barcode, that encodes ballot information. The ballot information includes choices made by the voter and information for use in remaking the ballot. Voters wish to submit their votes using printouts from non-specialized printers such as those found at their homes or offices; yet election officials wish to tabulate votes using scanners that require specialized, high-quality ballots. The disclosed systems and methods bridge this gap.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a voter-generated ballot comprising a machine-readable indicia that encodes one or more choices of a voter;

decoding the machine-readable indicia to determine the one or more choices of the voter; and

generating a remade ballot including an indication of the one or more choices of the voter, the remade ballot being readable by a ballot scanner.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable indicia comprise formatting information for the remade ballot.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the formatting information comprises a ballot design parameter identifying a file used for generating the remade ballot.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the voter-generated ballot further comprises a human-readable representation of the one or more choices of the voter.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising comparing the human-readable representation of the one or more choices of the voter to the machine-readable indicia of the one or more choices of the voter.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising tagging, in response to a discrepancy being found in the comparing of the human-readable representation of the one or more choices of the voter and the machine-readable indicia of the one or more choices of the voter, the voter-generated ballot for manual processing.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable indicia comprises a session identifier.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising identifying the one or more choices of the voter corresponding to the session identifier.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking the voter-generated ballot as being received based on the decoding of the machine-readable indicia.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the voter-generated ballot is a physical ballot.

11. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform one or more operations, the one or more operations comprising;

receiving a voter-generated ballot comprising a machine-readable indicia that encodes one or more choices of a voter;

decoding the machine-readable indicia to determine the one or more choices of the voter; and

generating a remade ballot including an indication of the one or more choices of the voter, the remade ballot being readable by a ballot scanner.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the machine-readable indicia comprise formatting information for the remade ballot.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the formatting information comprises a ballot design parameter identifying a file used for generating the remade ballot.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the voter-generated ballot further comprises a human-readable representation of the one or more choices of the voter.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more operations further comprise comparing the human-readable representation of the one or more choices of the voter to the machine-readable indicia of the one or more choices of the voter.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more operations further comprise tagging, in response to a discrepancy being found in the comparing of the human-readable representation of the one or more choices of the voter and the machine-readable indicia of the one or more choices of the voter, the voter-generated ballot for manual processing.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the machine-readable indicia comprise a session identifier.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more operations further comprise identifying the one or more choices of the voter corresponding to the session identifier.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more operations further comprise tracking the voter-generated ballot as being received based on the decoding of the machine-readable indicia.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the voter-generated ballot is a physical ballot.