Ballot Information

      A full-face ballot display allows people to see all the choices available at one time.  This makes the voting process much faster and efficient.  Slate voting illuminates all the choices for a particular party.  Pull is significant to politicians in many cases.  The top of the ballot can pull the candidates from a particular party when there is a full-face ballot display.

      The system provides a full-face ballot display with an electronic selection of candidate and question choices, along with a printed-paper display of choices, that the voter examines before casting his or her ballot.  The printed display of choices is made before the “Cast Ballot” button is pushed so that if any of the selections are not what the voter expected, they can be changed.

      The voting machine must be opened before the ballot can be installed or removed.  On the right edge of the machine is a long bracket with an “L” profile, which extends over then entire length of the edge.  This bracket must be removed by unscrewing two Allen Head Screws with the appropriate Allen Wrench.  With the edge removed, the Mylar layer can be gently pulled out of the adjacent edges.  After that, the Lexan layer can be lifted up from the right edge at an angle (pivoting at the ridge on the opposite end) in order to expose the ballot.  The ballot can then be placed on the exposed metal surface of the voting machine with care taken to align the ballot holes over the appropriate lights and switches.  The Lexan layer can then be lowered so that it is resting on top of the ballot.  Finally, the Mylar layer can be gently tucked into the three non-removable edges and the removable right-hand edge can be reinstalled and screwed tight so that it clamps down on all the aforementioned plastic layers, preventing unwanted removal or tampering.

      Software modules move the information from the spreadsheet format into the configuration files specific to each election and specific to each precinct.  Thus, the administration of the ballot formatting and machine set-up is automated to guarantee security.  Because there is no programming for a particular election, the administrative procedures are understandable to the ordinary person, which creates a sense of openness and fairness that is central to the democratic process.

To perform a write-in ballot vote, the voter first presses the vote selection button for the write-in option, and then uses the paper on the small printer next to the selection mechanism to write in the name of the candidate.  The candidate name will appear on the paper.  A write-in cannot be changed.  Once another selection has been made, or if "Print Ballot" is selected, the write-in selection will no longer visible.

      To print the ballot used by voters on Election Day, the election official will enter the information into a specially designed Microsoft Excel spreadsheet document.  To begin this process, open the Excel document titled “New Election Ballot.”  In the opened document, a large gray button labeled “Create VM Candidate File” will appear.  The top row (Row 1) of the spreadsheet will be used to enter the category heading for each of the first five columns (Columns A-E).  All lower rows in each column will be used to enter specific category information.

      Preparations for ballot printing and the configuration of Linux voting Logic are achieved nearly at the same time.  Information for Office, Vote Instructions, Candidate Name, Candidate Occupation, and Party Affiliation are typed into Microsoft Excel in a logical fashion.  Pressing a button in Excel outputs a flat file used to configure the vote Logic in the Linux machine (how many offices, candidates, any restrictions, etc.).  The Excel document is then used with a Mail Merge to template function in Microsoft Word in order to properly align all the Ballot Information so that it can be printed.  With the ballot printed, holes are then created in the appropriate places to accommodate the button and switch combination.

      The voting Logic in the Linux machine can be configured for restricted vote scenarios where certain voters are not allowed access to all possible votes or questions because of differences in address (different county, different questions, etc) or party affiliation.