The use of technologies in the electoral process leads us to the elimination of paper ballots and the implementation of electronic voting systems . But there are other ways to incorporate technology into the electoral process.
The objective of this test was to reduce errors in the recording of results at each table and to speed up the processing of provisional data. In other words, he focused on the electoral count and on possible ways to improve its quality and timing.
There are different kinds of mechanical and electronic voting information systems. Some of them use technologies developed especially for electoral purposes. Mechanical or electronic voting is widely used in the United States and to a lesser extent in a small group of countries in other parts of the world.
The main types of electronic or mechanical voting systems include:
- Mechanical counting and voting systems
- Punch card voting and counting systems
- Optical reader counting and voting systems
- Direct electronic registration systems
Mechanical counting and voting systems
In an ordinary machine of this type, each candidate is assigned a lever. Upon entering the voting booth or compartment, the voter pulls a handle that activates the machine and closes a curtain that offers privacy. The voter then pulls the levers to mark his preferences. The machines are designed to prevent the voter from making more selections than are allowed. When you finish voting and open the curtains with the handle, the levers return to their original position for the next voter.
As each lever is activated, the wheels inside the machine turn to indicate or mark a vote. At the end of the vote, the counting wheels of each machine indicate the number of votes cast by each candidate.
Punch card voting and counting systems
With these systems, voters drill holes in cards using a small device designed for this purpose to indicate the candidates of their choice. After voting, the voter can enter the card directly into a computer that counts the votes or deposit it in a ballot box that is then transported to a central headquarters for the counting.
Two conventional types of punch cards used in the United States are the “votomatic” and the “datavote” with the former, each of the places where the holes can be punched to indicate preferences is assigned a number. The number of the holes is the only information printed on the card. The candidate list and instructions for drilling the holes are printed in a separate booklet. On the “datavote” card, the candidate’s name is printed on the ballot next to where the holes are made.
Optical reader counting and voting systems
There are many types of optical scanning technologies: Optical Mark Reader (OMR), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR). For more details on these technologies, see Optical Scanning Systems .
Most of the voting systems based on reading machines (optical scan) use OMR technology. In the United States they are known as “Marksense” systems.
Voters using optical reader ballots are given a card with the names of the candidates printed on it. Next to each candidate is printed some symbol such as a rectangle, a circle or an incomplete arrow. The candidate indicates his preference by filling in the corresponding symbol or completing the date.
After voting, the voter can place the card directly into a computer that tabulates the votes at the polling station itself, or place it in a ballot box that is then transported to a counting center. The counting device identifies the marks made by voters on the cards and records the votes accordingly. Individual votes are recorded in a database and consolidated to provide total results.
Direct electronic registration systems
In these systems, voters directly mark their votes on an electronic device using a digital display and pressing buttons or a similar device. Where the ballots need to be filled out with the names of the selected candidates, an alphabetic keyboard is sometimes provided so that voters can cast these types of votes.
With RED systems, no ballots are required, that is, paper ballots. The information on the votes is stored by an electronic device, on a computer’s hard drive, on a floppy disk or on a CD-ROM for backup and verification purposes, some systems copy the information on more than one storage medium. In Belgium, for example, voting information is written both on a hard disk and on a smart card that is issued to the voter. After voting, the voter places the used card in a ballot box. The smart card can be used as a backup if the hard drive copy fails or as a way to audit the information recorded on the hard drive.
When the vote is closed, the information from the different voting sites is integrated into a central computer, which calculates the total votes. Data can be transmitted to the central computer on portable devices such as floppy disks or over computer networks.