Electronic voting method for optically scanned ballot
DCFirst Claim
Patent Images
1. A machine readable ballot comprising:
- a ballot sheet having an identifier region thereon wherein an identifier includes at least a representation of jurisdiction information, said ballot sheet having two or more fiducial marks thereon for defining the orientation and the scale of the ballot sheet, said ballot sheet also having a plurality of contest regions thereon, each contest region having two or more mark spaces therein for making voting selections, wherein one of the mark spaces in a contest region represents an abstention selection;
wherein the contest regions correspond to contests in the jurisdiction represented by the jurisdiction information, and wherein the representation of jurisdiction information and the mark spaces are machine readable.
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Abstract
A method for reading ballots comprises reading/imaging each ballot transported on a transport path including reading/imaging orientation indicia and a jurisdiction identifier thereof and voting selections marked thereon; determining from the orientation indicia the orientation of each ballot; processing the jurisdiction identifier for each ballot for selecting a template; and recording the voting selections marked on each ballot in accordance with the selected template and the determined orientation of the ballot.
98 Citations
67 Claims
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1. A machine readable ballot comprising:
- a ballot sheet having an identifier region thereon wherein an identifier includes at least a representation of jurisdiction information, said ballot sheet having two or more fiducial marks thereon for defining the orientation and the scale of the ballot sheet, said ballot sheet also having a plurality of contest regions thereon, each contest region having two or more mark spaces therein for making voting selections, wherein one of the mark spaces in a contest region represents an abstention selection;
wherein the contest regions correspond to contests in the jurisdiction represented by the jurisdiction information, and wherein the representation of jurisdiction information and the mark spaces are machine readable. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
- a ballot sheet having an identifier region thereon wherein an identifier includes at least a representation of jurisdiction information, said ballot sheet having two or more fiducial marks thereon for defining the orientation and the scale of the ballot sheet, said ballot sheet also having a plurality of contest regions thereon, each contest region having two or more mark spaces therein for making voting selections, wherein one of the mark spaces in a contest region represents an abstention selection;
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13. A method for reading paper ballots comprising:
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(a) imaging each of a plurality of paper ballots transported along a transport path of an image document scanner to provide a ballot image in a pixelated or bitmapped format for each ballot; (b) selecting a template for decoding voting selections marked on each paper ballot responsive to the pixelated or bitmapped format ballot image of each paper ballot; (c) decoding from the pixelated or bitmapped format ballot image of each paper ballot the voting selections marked on each paper ballot in accordance with the selected template; and (d) tabulating the decoded voting selections decoded from each of the paper ballots consistent with the selected template; whereby the voting selections marked on each paper ballot are decoded and tabulated in accordance with a selected template. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for optically reading paper ballots having a jurisdiction identifier and fiducial marks thereon and having voting selections marked thereon, said method comprising:
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(a) transporting paper ballots along a transport path; (b) determining from the fiducial marks the orientation of each paper ballot; (c) reading consistent with the determined orientation of each paper ballot the jurisdiction identifier of each paper ballot transported along the transport path; (d) selecting a template responsive to the read jurisdiction identifier and determined orientation of each paper ballot for reading the voting selections marked thereon; and (e) reading in accordance with the selected template and consistent with the determined orientation of each paper ballot the voting selections marked on each paper ballot transported along the transport path, whereby the voting selections marked on each paper ballot are read in accordance with a selected template corresponding to the jurisdiction identifier for that paper ballot irrespective of the orientation of the paper ballot. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method for reading paper ballots having a jurisdiction identifier and fiducial marks thereon and having voting selections marked thereon, said method comprising:
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(a) transporting paper ballots along a transport path; (b) imaging each paper ballot transported along the transport path; (c) determining from the fiducial marks the orientation of each paper ballot; (d) decoding consistent with the determined orientation of each paper ballot the jurisdiction identifier of the image of each paper ballot; (e) selecting responsive to the decoded jurisdiction identifier a template for decoding the voting selections marked on each paper ballot; and (f) decoding consistent with the determined orientation of each paper ballot the voting selections marked on each paper ballot in accordance with the selected template, whereby the voting selections marked on each paper ballot are decoded in accordance with a template corresponding to the jurisdiction identifier for that paper ballot irrespective of the orientation of the paper ballot. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A method for reading ballots comprising:
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(a) transporting the ballots on a reader transport path; (b) reading each ballot transported on said transport path including reading fiducial marks and a jurisdiction identifier thereof and voting selections marked thereon; (c) determining from the fiducial marks the orientation of each ballot; (d) processing the jurisdiction identifier for each ballot for selecting a template; and (e) recording the voting selections marked on each ballot in accordance with the selected template and the determined orientation of the ballot, whereby the voting selections marked on each ballot are read and recorded in accordance with a template corresponding to the jurisdiction identifier for that ballot. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46)
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47. A method for reading a ballot having one or more contest regions and a plurality of mark spaces thereon in which voting selections may be marked for one or more contests, each mark space being defined by an outline thereof the method comprising:
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imaging the ballot having one or more contest regions and a plurality of mark spaces thereon wherein the image of the ballot includes all of the mark spaces for the contest regions thereon and is in a pixelated or bitmapped format including a plurality of pixels; defining for each ballot the one or more contest regions each containing a plurality of reading regions each including the outline of one mark space; processing the image of the ballot for decoding from the image of the ballot the defined one or more contest regions and for decoding from the image of the ballot the plurality of reading regions including the outline of one mark space thereof; and for each decoded contest region; counting the number of light pixels and dark pixels for each reading region; determining from the counts of light and dark pixels for each reading region whether the mark space therein is an unmarked outline or is marked as a voting selection; and counting each determined marked voting selection. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A method for reading a ballot having a plurality of mark spaces thereon in which voting selections may be marked, the method comprising:
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defining first and second predetermined values related to counts of light pixels and dark pixels for a mark space being considered marked as a voting selection, wherein the second predetermined value is greater than or less than the first predetermined value; imaging the ballot having a plurality of mark spaces thereon wherein the image is in a format including a plurality of pixels; defining for each ballot a plurality of reading regions each including the outline of one mark space; counting the number of light pixels and dark pixels for each reading region; determining from the counts of light and dark pixels for each reading region and the first predetermined value whether the mark space therein is marked as a voting selection; determining from the counts of light and dark pixels for each reading region and the second predetermined value whether the mark space therein is marked as a voting selection; identifying each ballot wherein the determination of a marked voting selection based on the first predetermined value differs from the determination of a marked voting selection based on the second predetermined value.
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62. A method for reading ballots comprising:
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transporting the ballots on a reader transport path wherein the reader is located at a place accessible to a voter before the voter submits the ballot; reading each ballot transported on said transport path including reading fiducial marks and a jurisdiction identifier thereof for selecting a template and reading voting selections marked on the ballot; displaying the voting selections marked on each ballot in accordance with the selected template, but not recording or storing the voting selections; and thereafter, submitting the ballot for counting, whereby the voting selections marked on the ballot are read and displayed in accordance with the template for review by a voter prior to submitting the ballot for counting.
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63. A method for reading a ballot having one or more contest regions and a plurality of mark spaces thereon in which voting selections may be marked for one or more contests, each mark space being defined by an outline thereof and having a machine-readable ballot identifier or fiducial marks or both a machine-readable ballot identifier and fiducial marks thereon, the method comprising:
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imaging the ballot having one or more contest regions wherein the image of the ballot includes all of the mark spaces thereon for the contest regions thereon and is in a pixelated or bitmapped format including a plurality of pixels; defining for each ballot a plurality of first reading regions each including the outline of one mark space and one or more second reading regions each including one of the ballot identifier or a fiducial mark; processing the image of the ballot for decoding from the image of the ballot the plurality of first reading regions including the outline of one mark space; counting at least the number of dark pixels for each of the first and second reading regions; determining from the counts of dark pixels for each of the first and second reading regions whether at least the outlines of all mark spaces are present in the image of the ballot and whether the ballot identifier or fiducial marks or both are present in the image of the ballot; and if the outlines of all mark spaces and all of the ballot identifier or fiducial marks or both are present in the image of the ballot, then counting each determined marked voting selection.
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64. A method for reading a ballot having one or more contest regions and a plurality of mark spaces thereon in which voting selections may be marked for one or more contests, each mark space being defined by an outline thereof, the method comprising:
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imaging a ballot having one or more contest regions wherein the image of that ballot includes all of the mark spaces thereon for the contest regions thereon and is in a pixelated or bitmapped format including a plurality of pixels; defining for that ballot a plurality of reading regions each including the outline of one mark space, whereby the number of mark spaces that should be on that ballot is defined; processing the image of that ballot for decoding from the image of that ballot the plurality of reading regions including the outline of one mark space; counting at least the number of dark pixels for each of the reading regions; determining from the counts of dark pixels for each of the reading regions whether at least the outlines of all mark spaces that should be on that ballot are in the image of that ballot; and if the outlines of all mark spaces that should be on that ballot are in the image of that ballot, then processing the image of that ballot for counting each mark space determined from the count of dark pixels to be a marked voting selection, whereby the ballot is counted only if all of the mark spaces that should be on the ballot are determined to be in the image of that ballot. - View Dependent Claims (65)
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66. A method for reading a ballot having one or more contest regions and a plurality of mark spaces thereon in which voting selections may be marked for one or more contests, each mark space being defined by an outline thereof, and having a machine-readable ballot identifier and optionally having fiducial marks thereon, the method comprising:
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imaging a ballot wherein the image of that ballot includes all of the mark spaces thereon for the contest regions that are on that ballot as imaged, and wherein the image of the ballot is in a pixelated or bitmapped format including a plurality of pixels; processing the image of that ballot for decoding from the image of that ballot the ballot identifier thereon; defining for that ballot a plurality of first reading regions each including the outline of one mark space and one or more second reading regions including a fiducial marks, if any, whereby the number of mark spaces that should be on the ballot and the number of fiducial marks, if any, that should be on that ballot are defined; processing the image of that ballot for decoding from the image of that ballot the plurality of first reading regions thereon including the outline of the one mark space thereof and for decoding from the image of that ballot the fiducial marks, if any, thereon; counting at least the number of dark pixels for each of the first and second reading regions; determining from the counts of dark pixels for each of the first and second reading regions whether at least the outlines of all mark spaces for all contest regions that should be on that ballot are in the image of that ballot and whether the fiducial marks, if any, that should be on that ballot are in the image of that ballot; if the outlines of all mark spaces for all of the contest regions are in the image of that ballot, and if the fiducial marks, if any, that should be on that ballot are in the image of that ballot, then counting each determined marked voting selection for that ballot, whereby the ballot is counted only if all of the mark spaces that should be on that ballot are determined to be in the image of that ballot. - View Dependent Claims (67)
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Specification