Direct vote recording system
First Claim
1. A voting system for an election to be voted on by voters at a voting location, the voting system comprising:
- an election management computer unit which creates election data relating to the election, said election data including one or more ballots and an election ID;
a polling officer smart card configured by said election management computer unit to include the election ID and a polling officer password for use by a polling officer;
a smart card activator device for reading the election ID and polling officer password from said polling officer smart card, for receiving a password input by the polling officer, and for determining that the password input by the polling officer matches the polling officer password read from said polling officer smart card, a successful match enabling said smart card activator device to receive the election data from said election management computer unit and to verify that the election ID from the polling office smart card matches the election ID received from the election management computer unit, the smart card activator device once enabled by a positive verification for configuring a voter smart card in view of said election data to enable a voter to vote on the election; and
at least one voting machine for reading the election ID and polling officer password from said polling officer smart card, determining whether a password entered by the polling officer matches the password read from the polling officer smart card, a successful match enabling said voting machine to receive an election ID from said election management computer unit and to verify that the election ID from the polling officer smart card matches the election ID received from the election management computer unit, said voting machine, upon election ID verification, receiving at least one of the ballots of the election data from said election management computer unit and, upon reading and verifying the configured voter smart card, the voting machine displaying at least one of the ballots of the election data and permitting the voter to vote on the displayed ballot.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A Direct Vote Recording System (DVRS) (10) has three primary components, Personal Computer (PC) (100) which runs an Election Management System (EMS), Direct Vote Recording Machine (DVRM) (300) and a Smart Card Activator Device (SCAD) (500). In addition, the DVRS includes Data Carriers (800), Voter Smart Cards (710) and Polling Office smart cards (720). The DVRS generally operates as follows: (1) data of a new election is created using the EMS software on the PC (100), (2) downloading that data to Ballot/Tally Data Carriers (800) which are then transported to Polling Place(s) where (3) the data is then loaded into the SCAD (500) and DVRM(s) (300), (4) hardware tests may then be conducted on the DVRS equipment and Test Voting may be performed to validate operational DVRS software and the accuracy of the downloaded election data, (5) the election is then conducted using the SCAD to generate Voter Smart Cards (710) for Test, Practice and Active voting, and the DVRM to collect votes, (6) polls are closed, the data is downloaded from the DVRM(s) (300) to the Data Carrier (800), and, (7) the Carrier (800) is returned to the PC where election results are computed and reports made. Test and Practice voting may only be conducted prior to opening the polls. The Polling Officer smart card (720) is used by a Polling Officer to control operation of the SCAD (500) and DVRMs (300) at the Polling Place.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A voting system for an election to be voted on by voters at a voting location, the voting system comprising:
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an election management computer unit which creates election data relating to the election, said election data including one or more ballots and an election ID;
a polling officer smart card configured by said election management computer unit to include the election ID and a polling officer password for use by a polling officer;
a smart card activator device for reading the election ID and polling officer password from said polling officer smart card, for receiving a password input by the polling officer, and for determining that the password input by the polling officer matches the polling officer password read from said polling officer smart card, a successful match enabling said smart card activator device to receive the election data from said election management computer unit and to verify that the election ID from the polling office smart card matches the election ID received from the election management computer unit, the smart card activator device once enabled by a positive verification for configuring a voter smart card in view of said election data to enable a voter to vote on the election; and
at least one voting machine for reading the election ID and polling officer password from said polling officer smart card, determining whether a password entered by the polling officer matches the password read from the polling officer smart card, a successful match enabling said voting machine to receive an election ID from said election management computer unit and to verify that the election ID from the polling officer smart card matches the election ID received from the election management computer unit, said voting machine, upon election ID verification, receiving at least one of the ballots of the election data from said election management computer unit and, upon reading and verifying the configured voter smart card, the voting machine displaying at least one of the ballots of the election data and permitting the voter to vote on the displayed ballot. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A voting system for an election having one or more ballots to be voted on by voters at a voting location managed by a polling officer, the voting system comprising:
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an election management computer unit which creates election data in response to operator input, said election data including ballot data for each ballot, an election ID identifying the election, a voting location ID identifying the voting location, and a polling officer password;
at least one portable data carrier which receives the election data, election ID, voting location ID and polling officer password from said election management computer unit;
a polling officer smart card for use by the polling officer, the polling officer smart card configured by said election management computer unit to include the election ID, voting location ID and polling officer password;
a voter smart card for use by the voter;
a smart card activator device for reading the election ID, voting location ID and polling officer password from the polling officer smart card, reading the election ID and voting location ID from the portable data carrier, determining whether a password input to the smart card activator device by the polling officer matches the polling officer password read from the polling officer smart card, verifying that the election ID and voting location ID read from said data carrier respectively match the election ID and voting location ID read from said polling officer smart card, and downloading the election data from said data carrier, said smart card activator device further programming said voter smart card to enable the voter to vote on one or more ballots; and
,a voting machine for reading the election ID and voting location ID from said data carrier, reading the election ID, voting location ID and polling officer password from said polling officer smart card, determining whether a password input to the voting machine by the polling officer matches the polling officer password read from the polling officer smart card, verifying the election ID and voting location ID read from the data carrier respectively match the election ID and voting location ID read from said polling officer smart card, and downloading the ballot data from said data carrier, the voting machine further reading the programmed voter smart card, displaying the enabled one or more ballot and permitting the voter to vote on the displayed ballot. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. A method of creating and managing an election having one or more ballots including an election management computer unit, a data carrier, a polling officer smart card, a voter smart card, a smart card activator device and at least one voting machine, the method comprising:
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creating, at the election management computer unit, election data relating to the election, the election data including ballot data for each ballot, an election ID, a voting location ID and a polling officer password;
storing the election data on the data carrier;
configuring the polling officer smart card to include the election ID, voting location ID and polling officer password;
reading, at the smart card activator device, the election ID, voting location ID and polling officer password from the polling officer smart card;
receiving, at the smart card activator device, a password by a polling officer;
determining whether the password input by the polling officer matches the polling officer password from the polling officer smart card;
reading, at the smart card activator device, election data stored on the data carrier;
verifying that the election ID and voting location ID read from the data carrier matches the election ID and voting location ID read from the polling officer smart card;
downloading, at the smart card activator device, election data from said data carrier;
configuring, at the smart card activator device, a voter smart card using said election data to enable the voter to vote on the election;
reading, at the voting machine, the election ID and voting location ID stored on the data carrier;
reading, at the voting machine, the configured voter smart card; and
permitting, at the voting machine, a voter to vote on the displayed ballot in response to reading the configured voter smart card. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification