An electronic voting machine is a voting machine based on electronics . Two main technologies exist: optical scanning and direct recording (DRE).
48-538: A voting machine is a machine used to record votes in an election without paper. The first voting machines were mechanical but it is increasingly more common to use electronic voting machines . Traditionally, a voting machine has been defined by its mechanism, and whether the system tallies votes at each voting location, or centrally. Voting machines should not be confused with tabulating machines , which count votes done by paper ballot . Voting machines differ in usability, security, cost, speed, accuracy, and ability of
96-425: A spoiled ballot is one that has been handled by an elector in such a manner that it is ruined beyond use, or that the deputy returning officer finds soiled or improperly printed. The spoilt ballot is not placed in the ballot box, but rather is marked as spoilt by the deputy returning officer and set aside. The elector is given another ballot. A 'rejected ballot' is one which cannot be counted due to improper marking by
144-465: A United States election has been called the residual vote . In Australia, such votes are generally referred to as informal votes, and in Canada they are referred to as rejected votes. In some jurisdictions spoilt votes are counted and reported. A ballot may be spoilt in a number of ways, including: As an example, UK law specifically precludes ballots "on which votes are given for more candidates than
192-400: A ballot label that identifies the candidates or issues associated with each punching position on the card, although in some cases, the names and issues are printed directly on the card. After voting, the voter may place the ballot in a ballot box, or the ballot may be fed into a computer vote tabulating device at the precinct. The idea of voting by punching holes on paper or cards originated in
240-569: A description of a voting machine to be used in such a polling place. The Chartist voting machine, attributed to Benjamin Jolly of 19 York Street in Bath , allowed each voter to cast one vote in a single race. This matched the requirements of a British parliamentary election. Each voter was to cast his vote by dropping a brass ball into the appropriate hole in the top of the machine by the candidate's name. Each voter could only vote once because each voter
288-463: A paper-ballot voting system is in use. In the Philippines, votes cast for aspirants later declared as nuisance candidates whose name manage to get printed in ballots were considered stray votes prior to the 2013 elections . A particular type of nuisance candidates runs "to cause confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names" with a bona fide candidate for the same office. Since
336-438: A play: "good", "bad", or "indifferent". Lenna Winslow's 1910 voting machine was designed to offer all the questions on the ballot to men and only some to women because women often had partial suffrage , e.g. being allowed to vote on issues but not candidates. The machine had two doors, one marked "Gents" and the other marked "Ladies". The door used to enter the voting booth would activate a series of levers and switches to display
384-403: A scanner. The scanner creates an electronic image of each ballot, interprets it, creates a tally for each candidate, and usually stores the image for later review. The voter may mark the paper directly, usually in a specific location for each candidate. Or the voter may select choices on an electronic screen, which then prints the chosen names, and a bar code or QR code summarizing all choices, on
432-416: A sheet of paper to put in the scanner. Hundreds of errors in optical scan systems have been found, from feeding ballots upside down, multiple ballots pulled through at once in central counts, paper jams, broken, blocked or overheated sensors which misinterpret some or many ballots, printing which does not align with the programming, programming errors, and loss of files. The cause of each programming error
480-477: A single plurality race on the ballot. In 1881, Anthony Beranek of Chicago patented the first voting machine appropriate for use in a general election in the United States. Beranek's machine presented an array of push buttons to the voter, with one row per office on the ballot, and one column per party. Interlocks behind each row prevented voting for more than one candidate per race, and an interlock with
528-406: A single physical ballot is often used to record multiple separate votes. In such cases one can distinguish an "invalid ballot", where all votes on the ballot are rendered invalid, from a "partially valid" ballot, with some votes are valid and others invalid. A voter may deliberately spoil a vote, for example as a protest vote , especially in compulsory voting jurisdictions, to show disapproval of
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#1732797834065576-417: A straight-party lever and significantly simplified the interlocking mechanism used to enforce the vote-for-one rule in each race. By 1899, Alfred Gillespie introduced several refinements. It was Gillespie who replaced the heavy metal voting booth with a curtain that was linked to the cast-vote lever, and Gillespie introduced the lever by each candidate name that was turned to point to that name in order to cast
624-636: A tally for each candidate, and usually stores the image for later review. The voter may mark the paper directly, usually in a specific location for each candidate. Or the voter may select choices on an electronic screen, which then prints the chosen names, and a bar code or QR code summarizing all choices, on a sheet of paper to put in the scanner. Hundreds of errors in optical scan systems have been found, from feeding ballots upside down, multiple ballots pulled through at once in central counts, paper jams, broken, blocked or overheated sensors which misinterpret some or many ballots, printing which does not align with
672-470: A vote for that candidate. Inside the machine, Gillespie worked out how to make the machine programmable so that it could support races in which voters were allowed to vote for, for example, 3 out of 5 candidates. On December 14, 1900, the U.S. Standard Voting Machine Company was formed, with Alfred Gillespie as one of its directors, to combine the companies that held the Myers, Davis, and Gillespie patents. By
720-763: Is done using the same type of voting machine deployed at polling places, but since the introduction of the Votomatic punched-card voting system and the Norden Electronic Vote Tallying System in the 1960s, high speed ballot tabulators have been in widespread use, particularly in large metropolitan jurisdictions. Today, commodity high-speed scanners sometimes serve this purpose, but special-purpose ballot scanners are also available that incorporate sorting mechanisms to separate tallied ballots from those requiring human interpretation. Voted ballots are typically placed into secure ballot boxes at
768-548: Is more expensive than with paper ballots, because on the flimsy thermal paper in a long continuous roll, staff often lose their place, and the printout has each change by each voter, not just their final decisions. Problems have included public web access to the software, before it is loaded into machines for each election, and programming errors which increment different candidates than voters select. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany found that with existing machines could not be allowed because they could not be monitored by
816-627: Is no record of individual votes to check. For machines with VVPAT, checking is more expensive than with paper ballots, because on the flimsy thermal paper in a long continuous roll, staff often lose their place, and the printout has each change by each voter, not just their final decisions. Problems have included public web access to the software, before it is loaded into machines for each election, and programming errors which increment different candidates than voters select. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany found that with existing machines could not be allowed because they could not be monitored by
864-406: Is rarely found, so it is not known how many were accidental or intentional. In a DRE voting machine system, a touch screen displays choices to the voter, who selects choices, and can change their mind as often as needed, before casting the vote. Staff initialize each voter once on the machine, to avoid repeat voting. Voting data are recorded in memory components, and can be copied out at the end of
912-418: The 2014 General Election ". An electronic voting machine is a voting machine based on electronics . Two main technologies exist: optical scanning and direct recording (DRE). In an optical scan voting system , or marksense, each voter's choices are marked on one or more pieces of paper, which then go through a scanner. The scanner creates an electronic image of each ballot, interprets it, creates
960-656: The Chartists in the United Kingdom in 1838. Among the radical reforms called for in The People's Charter were universal suffrage and voting by secret ballot . This required major changes in the conduct of elections, and as responsible reformers, the Chartists not only demanded reforms but described how to accomplish them, publishing Schedule A , a description of how to run a polling place, and Schedule B ,
1008-408: The 1890s and inventors continued to explore this in the years that followed. By the late 1890s John McTammany's voting machine was used widely in several states. In this machine, votes were recorded by punching holes in a roll of paper comparable to those used in player pianos , and then tabulated after the polls closed using a pneumatic mechanism. Punched-card voting was proposed occasionally in
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#17327978340651056-412: The 1920s, this company (under various names) had a monopoly on voting machines, until, in 1936, Samuel and Ransom Shoup obtained a patent for a competing voting machine. By 1934, about a sixth of all presidential ballots were being cast on mechanical voting machines, essentially all made by the same manufacturer. Commonly, a voter enters the machine and pulls a lever to close the curtain, thus unlocking
1104-713: The National People's Congress in Beijing. Despite the Government criminalising inciting voters to cast invalid ballots or not vote, as well as attempts to boost voter turnout, the election recorded a record number of invalid ballots as well as historically low voter turnout. Voter instructions are usually intended to minimize the accidental spoiling of votes. Ballot design can aid or inhibit clarity in an election, resulting in less or more accidental spoiling. Some election officials have discretion to allow ballots where
1152-429: The candidates standing whilst still taking part in the electoral process. Intentionally spoiling someone else's ballot before or during tabulation is an electoral fraud . The validity of an election may be questioned if there is an unusually high proportion of spoilt votes. In multiple-vote U.S. ballots, "voter roll-off" is calculated by subtracting the number of votes cast for a "down-ballot" office, such as mayor, from
1200-459: The close of polling. DREs and precinct scanners have electronic storage of the vote tallies and may transmit results to a central location over public telecommunication networks. A central count voting system is a voting system that tallies ballots from multiple precincts at a central location. Central count systems are also commonly used to process absentee ballots . Central counting can be done by hand, and in some jurisdictions, central counting
1248-446: The close of the election, the results are hand copied by the precinct officer, although some machines could automatically print the totals. New York was the last state to stop using these machines, under court order, by the fall of 2009. Punched card systems employ a card (or cards) and a small clipboard-sized device for recording votes. Voters punch holes in the cards with a ballot marking device . Typical ballot marking devices carry
1296-606: The criteria for acceptability are not strictly met but the voter's intention is clear. More complicated electoral systems may be more prone to errors. Group voting tickets were introduced in Australia owing to the high number of informal votes cast in single transferable vote (STV) elections, but have since been abolished in all states and territories aside from Victoria . When multiple Irish STV elections are simultaneous (as for local and European elections) some voters have marked, say, 1-2-3 on one ballot paper and 4-5-6 on
1344-479: The door of the voting booth reset the machine for the next voter as each voter left the booth. The psephograph was patented by Italian inventor Eugenio Boggiano in 1907. It worked by dropping a metal token into one of several labeled slots. The psephograph would automatically tally the total tokens deposited in each slot. The psephograph was first used in a theatre in Rome, where it was used to gauge audience reception to
1392-527: The election. Some of these machines also print names of chosen candidates on paper for the voter to verify, though less than 40% verify. These names on paper are kept behind glass in the machine, and can be used for election audits and recounts if needed. The tally of the voting data is printed on the end of the paper tape. The paper tape is called a Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT). The VVPATs can be tallied at 20–43 seconds of staff time per vote (not per ballot). For machines without VVPAT, there
1440-417: The full ballot for men and the partial ballot for women. By July 1936, IBM had mechanized voting and ballot tabulation for single transferable vote elections. Using a series of dials, the voter could record up to twenty ranked preferences to a punched card , one preference at a time. Write-in votes were permitted. The machine prevented a voter from spoiling their ballot by skipping rankings and by giving
1488-417: The mid-20th century, but the first major success for punched-card voting came in 1965, with Joseph P. Harris' development of the Votomatic punched-card system. This was based on IBM's Port-A-Punch technology. Harris licensed the Votomatic to IBM. William Rouverol built the prototype system. The Votomatic system was very successful and widely distributed. By the 1996 Presidential election, some variation of
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1536-495: The number of votes cast for a "top-of-the-ballot" office, such as president. When the election jurisdiction does not report voter turnout, roll-off can be used as a proxy for residual votes. Some voters may only be interested in voting for the major offices, and not bother filling in the lower positions, resulting in a partially valid ballot. While it is not illegal to advocate informal voting in Australian federal elections , it
1584-678: The other; some returning officers consequently allowed 4-5-6 ballots to be counted, until a Supreme Court case in 2015 ruled they were invalid. The United States Election Assistance Commission 's survey of the 2006 midterm elections reported undervoting rate of 0.1% in US Senate elections and 1.6% in US House elections; overvotes were much rarer. Some paper-based voting systems and most DRE voting machines can notify voters of under-votes and over-votes. The Help America Vote Act requires that voters are informed when they have overvoted, unless
1632-514: The polling place. Stored ballots and/or Precinct Counts are transported or transmitted to a central counting location. The system produces a printed report of the vote count, and may produce a report stored on electronic media suitable for broadcasting, or release on the Internet. Electronic voting machine In an optical scan voting system , or marksense, each voter's choices are marked on one or more pieces of paper, which then go through
1680-431: The precinct. A precinct-count voting system is a voting system that tallies ballots at the polling place. Precinct-count machines typically analyze ballots as they are cast. This approach allows for voters to be notified of voting errors such as overvotes and can prevent spoilt votes . After the voter has a chance to correct any errors, the precinct-count machine tallies that ballot. Vote totals are made public only after
1728-475: The programming, programming errors, and loss of files. In a DRE voting machine system, a touch screen displays choices to the voter, who selects choices, and can change their mind as often as needed, before casting the vote. Staff initialize each voter once on the machine, to avoid repeat voting. Voting data are recorded in memory components, and can be copied out at the end of the election. Most of these machines also print names of chosen candidates on paper for
1776-425: The public to oversee elections. Machines may be more or less accessible to voters with different disabilities. Tallies are simplest in parliamentary systems where just one choice is on the ballot, and these are often tallied manually. In other political systems where many choices are on the same ballot, tallies are often done by machines to give faster results. In ancient Athens (5th and 4th centuries BCE) voting
1824-417: The public. Successful hacks have been demonstrated under laboratory conditions. Spoilt vote In voting , a ballot is considered spoilt , spoiled , void , null , informal , invalid or stray if a law declares or an election authority determines that it is invalid and thus not included in the vote count . This may occur accidentally or deliberately. The total number of spoilt votes in
1872-407: The public. According to University of Iowa computer scientist Douglas Jones , a specialist in the use of computers in elections, there has been no evidence of hackers accessing electronic voting machines in public use, though some hacks have been achieved in controlled laboratory settings. Optical scans can be done either at the polling place or in another location. DRE machines always tally at
1920-529: The punched card system was used by 37.3% of registered voters in the United States. Votomatic style systems and punched cards received considerable notoriety in 2000 when their uneven use in Florida was alleged to have affected the outcome of the U.S. presidential election . The Help America Vote Act of 2002 "effectively banned pre-scored punched card ballots." Votomatics were "last used in 2 counties in Idaho in
1968-509: The same ranking to more than one candidate. A standard punched-card counting machine would tabulate ballots at a rate of 400 per minute. Lever machines were commonly used in the United States until the 1990s. In 1889, Jacob H. Myers of Rochester, New York , received a patent for a voting machine that was based on Beranek's 1881 push button machine. This machine saw its first use in Lockport, New York , in 1892. In 1894, Sylvanus Davis added
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2016-445: The voter is entitled to vote for", "on which anything is written or marked by which the voter can be identified" or "which [are] unmarked or void for uncertainty". If a voter makes a mistake while completing a ballot, it may be possible to cancel it and start the voting process again. In the United States , cancelled physical ballots may be called "spoiled ballots", as distinct from an "invalid vote" which has been cast. In Canada ,
2064-425: The voter to verify, though some studies have indicated that fewer than 40% of voters do so. The paper ballot, whether paper tape or separate ballot sheets, the paper ballot is securely stored, creating a voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) that can be used for election audits and recounts if needed. For machines without VVPAT, there is no record of individual votes to check. For machines with VVPAT, checking
2112-414: The voter. Examples of this are ballots which have more than one mark, the intent of the voter cannot be ascertained, or the voter can be identified by their mark. In many jurisdictions, if multiple elections or referendums are held simultaneously, then there may be separate physical ballots for each, which may be printed on different-colored paper and posted into separate ballot boxes. In the United States,
2160-413: The voting levers. The voter then makes his or her selection from an array of small voting levers denoting the appropriate candidates or measures. The machine is configured to prevent overvotes by locking out other candidates when one candidate's lever is turned down. When the voter is finished, a lever is pulled which opens the curtain and increments the appropriate counters for each candidate and measure. At
2208-430: Was briefly illegal to advise voters to fill out their ballots using duplicated numbers. Albert Langer was jailed for violating an injunction not to advocate incomplete preference voting for the 1996 Australian federal election . During the 2021 Hong Kong legislative elections , pro-democratic supporters urged voters to cast spoilt ballots or not vote in the election in protest of the rewriting of election rules by
2256-485: Was done by different colored pebbles deposited in urns, and later by bronze markers created by the state and officially stamped. This procedure served for elected positions, jury procedures, and ostracisms. The first use of paper ballots was in Rome in 139 BCE, and their first use in the United States was in 1629 to select a pastor for the Salem Church. The first major proposal for the use of voting machines came from
2304-425: Was given just one brass ball. The ball advanced a clockwork counter for the corresponding candidate as it passed through the machine, and then fell out the front where it could be given to the next voter. In 1875, Henry Spratt of Kent received a U.S. patent for a voting machine that presented the ballot as an array of push buttons, one per candidate. Spratt's machine was designed for a typical British election with
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