Marking system and apparatus

• US 20080121704A1
• Filed: 12/28/2004
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Election Systems & Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ES&S Automark, LLC
• Inventors: Cummings, Eugene M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,566,006 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/386
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 13/00 Voting apparatus

Abstract

A terminal for marking a paper ballot which lists a plurality of candidates and which includes a marking space for each candidate which can be either hand-marked by a voter, or machine-marked by the terminal. The terminal scans the ballot to determine the ballot format, and then presents candidate selection options to the voter visually by means of an LCD touch screen menu and aurally by means of a synthesized speech menu. Candidate selections entered by means of the touch screen menu or by means of the audio menu are marked on the front and back sides of the ballot in marking spaces corresponding to the selected candidates, and the ballot is returned to the voter in a form which enables the voter to visually confirm that his or her selections have been marked. The ballot, whether hand-marked or machine-marked, is inserted in a ballot scanning device, wherein the ballot is tallied and deposited in a ballot box.

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49. A marking system for recording a user'"'"'s selection of one choice from a slate of one or more choices, comprising:

a hand-markable physical pre-printed document adopted to receive at least one user-detectable mark indicating the user'"'"'s selection of a choice from the slate of one or more choices, said document providing the indicia of and an associated marking space for each choice in said slate of choices;

a document marking terminal for displaying to the user one or more menus presenting a choice from said slate of choices, and for receiving an input from the user indicating the selection of a choice from said slate of choices, said document marking terminal receiving said document and in response to said user input, providing a user-detectable mark in the marking space corresponding to the said selected choice and returning said document to the user; and

a document scanning device for receiving said document and recording said user-detectable mark in said marking space associated with said selected choice.