US 8,913,787 B2 · Ballot adjudication in voting systems utilizing ballot images

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are described for adjudicating votes made on voter-marked paper ballots. Voter-marked paper ballots may be scanned to obtain optical image data of the voter-marked paper ballots. The optical image may be analyzed to determine the votes contained in the ballot for tabulation purposes. One or more votes on the ballot may be identified as requiring adjudication by an election official. Adjudication information, according to various embodiments, is appended to the optical images of the voter-marked paper ballots such that the image of the ballot and the image of the adjudication information may be viewed in an optical image. The optical image may be stored in a file format that allows the ballot image and the appended adjudication information to be viewed using readily available image viewers.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

receiving optical image data comprising an optical image of a voter-marked paper ballot and an audit mark indicating how a tabulation unit registered votes marked on the voter-marked paper ballot;
identifying one or more votes to be adjudicated on the voter-marked paper ballot;
providing an image of the ballot for review by one or more election officials;
receiving adjudication information from the one or more election officials, wherein the adjudication information includes a determination whether a particular mark on the ballot should be recorded as a vote;
generating image data comprising the received adjudication information;
and
appending the image data comprising the received adjudication information for the ballot to the optical image data.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Ballot adjudication in voting systems utilizing ballot images

Life of this patent

Ballot adjudication in voting systems utilizing ballot images

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20