Direct Recording Electronic

Paging / Full Face Direct Recording Electronic Voting System

Uses patented voter verifiable paper record technology

(US Patents: 7,635,088; 7,635,087; 7,614,553; 6,892,944; 7,036,730; 7,077,313; 7,422,150; 7,431,209; 6,973,581; 7,197,167; and pending patents: 11/709,449; and others)

The Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting systems offered by AVANTE feature redundant ballot result storage devices whose data can be verified against voting machine printed “cut-and-drop” paper records previously verified by the voter. The records are then dropped into and secured inside a uniquely designed voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) printer ballot box. Our systems meet or exceed Federal ADA (Accessibility) standards outlined in HAVA EAC voting system standards. We offer the use of an intuitively designed keyboard containing raised and tactile function keys that can be adapted for use with devices such as Sip-and-Puff or Rocker Paddles.

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AVANTE Voting Systems Division VP demos the NY 42 inch Full-Face DRE VOTE-TRAKKER® to Mayor Bloomberg. Machine Expos took place on the 15th and 17th of November 2006 in Long Island City and the Bronx, with a great response from the public attendees.

  • 42" DRE Vote-Trakker

    • Displays ALL contests on one page
  • 30" DRE Vote-Trakker

    • Displays ALL contests on one page
  • 14.1" DRE Vote-Trakker

    • Displays ONE contest per page
  • VVPAT

  • Security / Accessiblity

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42″ DRE VOTE-TRAKKER® FULL-FACE TOUCH-SCREEN

The 42″ display voting machine (EVC308-FF-42) was designed to meet not only the stringent 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines but also New York’s requirement for a full-face ballot display showing all contests at one time during the voting session. The 42″ display can comfortably fit 37 contests and 12 parties on the screen simultaneously.

Below is a picture of the face of the system with the voter’s intent highlighted in yellow. The paper record is to the right prior to being dropped into the ballot box.

Currently, the voting system hardware, firmware, and software are awaiting certification by a federal ITA based on EAC 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. The expected completion will be in 2008.

42″ VOTE-TRAKKER® system highlights:

  • 42″ ultra-high resolution touch-screen voting system.
  • Displays all contests at one time while individuals vote.
  • Specific contests may be expanded into larger font on demand by each voter.
  • Accommodates alternate languages to English (e.g. Chinese, Korea, Japanese, Spanish, plus all other known languages used in the US).
  • Provides accessibility to blind voters and others with physical disabilities through the use of voice assistance in any ballot language and the use of an accessible keyboard having raised and tactile functional keys, Sip-and-Puff, and other switches.
  • Eliminates unintentional undervotes requiring a positive confirmation of any undervote by voters (see picture below).
  • Voter verified paper record (ballot) printed with alternate font size upon demand by voters.
  • Designed to meet and exceed the EAC 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines.


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30″ DRE VOTE-TRAKKER® FULL-FACE TOUCH-SCREEN

The 30″ display voting machine (EVC308-FF) was designed to meet both the 2002 Voting System Standards and New Jersey’s need for a Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). This size display comfortably fits all contests required in an election for typical NJ elections. The system looks the same as the 42″ sister model other than the smaller 30″ display.

30″ VOTE-TRAKKER® system highlights:

  • 30″ ultra-high resolution touch-screen voting system.
  • Displays all contests at one time while individuals vote.
  • Specific contests may be expanded into larger font on demand by each voter.
  • Accommodates alternate languages to English (e.g. Chinese, Korea, Japanese, Spanish, plus all other known languages used in the US).
  • Provides accessibility to blind voters and others with physical disabilities through the use of voice assistance in any ballot language and the use of an accessible keyboard having raised and tactile functional keys, Sip-and-Puff, and other switches.
  • Eliminates unintentional undervotes requiring a positive confirmation of any undervote by voters.
  • Voter verified paper record (ballot) printed with different font sizes and alternate languages upon command by voters.
  • Certified to the FEC 2002 Voting System Standards.
  • AVANTE Voter-Verifiable Paper Ballot / Paper Records can be of different lengths, depending on the number of contests in the election. Each Paper Record is “cut-and-drop” into a locked and sealed ballot box. In addition, Paper Records also include a 2-D machine-readable code that stores the same data on the human-readable Voter-Verifiable Paper Ballot. The 2-D machine-readable code is available to facilitate recount procedures and provide “third-party” read-back capability if required.


14.1″ DRE VOTE-TRAKKER® PAGING TOUCH-SCREEN

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The 14″ Touch Screen voting system (EVC308) offers a contest-by-contest (one contest per page) display of ballots and a cut-and-drop paper record printer for voters to verify their selections.

14.1″ VOTE-TRAKKER® system highlights:

  • 14.1″ ultra-high resolution touch-screen voting system.
  • Displays contests page by page showing one contest per page during the voting process.
  • Specific contests may be expanded into larger font on demand by each voter.
  • Accommodates alternate languages to English (e.g. Chinese, Korea, Japanese, Spanish, plus all other known languages used in the US).
  • Provides accessibility to blind voters and others with physical disabilities through the use of voice assistance in any ballot language and the use of an accessible keyboard having raised and tactile functional keys, Sip-and-Puff, and other switches.
  • Eliminates unintentional undervotes requiring a positive confirmation of any undervote by voters.
  • Tested to the FEC 2002 Voting System Standards. Successfully used in Connecticut and Plan “B” New York voting (as part of the ballot marking device (BMD).


VOTER-VERIFIABLE PAPER RECORD / PAPER BALLOT / AUDIT TRAIL

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“Voter Verified Paper Record as an Audit Trail” is an AVANTE DRE innovation pioneered since 2001. Our success is not only being able to create Paper Records for voters to verify their selections, but also the detailed engineering in presenting, retrieving, and storing these records as part of an audit trail with security features incorporated to prevent tampering and any machine or human error.

Every Paper Record printed includes a Randomly Generated Voting Session Identifier as well as a Relational Check Code (Hash Code).



AVANTE DRE VOTING SYSTEMS ARE UNIQUE IN THE VOTING INDUSTRY PROVIDING BOTH UNPARALLELED ACCURACY REFLECTING VOTERS’ INTENT AND SYSTEM SECURITY

  • Unintentional undervotes are completely eliminated with the voters’ option of “Skip Choice” that requires positive action by the voters in both paging and full-face DRE solution. Over many elections, 0% residual votes have been proven for both paging and full-face DREs.
  • The use of randomly generated random ballot access identifiers rather than fixed code access eliminates all possible tampering by both voters anddre-overview1-500 election administrators.
  • A one-to-one tracking between electronic ballot images, voter-verified paper records, and proper check codes provides the security to ensure voters that their ballots are counted as cast without the loss of privacy.
  • AVANTE DRE VOTE-TRAKKER® was the first and only system that uses write-once-read-many CD-Rs as its transfer media for loading the ballot onto each voting unit, formatting final ballot images, and producing event logs from the voting machine after each election. AVANTE’s implementation of these patented innovative solutions was done prior to the related problems being exposed.
  • AVANTE DRE with VVPR and OPTICAL-VOTE-TRAKKER® is the first to provide automatic rank-choice voting to facilitate instant run-off election. Paper ballots and electronic ballots are generated at the same time within the same EMS (Election Management System) that allows voters to rank all candidates in accordance with their preference. The software automatically performs the “run-off” instantly as part of the tabulation of votes.

AVANTE patented verifiable voting solutions with proven accuracy are configured with commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware of computers, printers, and document imaging scanners with the flexibility to accommodate election and voting methods of:

These patented solutions are developed and proven with the most stringent accuracy and integrity requirements in mind to accommodate the spectrum of complex elections in the USA, South America, and others as well as more common and simpler parliamentary and presidential elections in Canada, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

System Security Overview 

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A voter is able to verify their selection on a paper record (VVPR) before casting their ballot and leaving the voting booth after using AVANTE’s Direct Recording Electronic Vote-Trakker system.


Besides recording the DRE ballots correctly after the paper records (paper ballots) are verified by the voters, AVANTE also pioneered the first use of “write-once-read-many” (WORM) transfer media for all ballot images, event logs, and the tallies to ensure consolidation at the central office are true to every single ballot that was cast.



cd111. All DRE Voting Machines creating VVPRs should use Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) CD-Rs as the only transfer media to prevent tampering. These should also be authenticated by the jurisdiction and signed by the poll workers at the end of the night when the polls are closed.

cd222. The central consolidator of votes will use these WORM CD-Rs to ensure end-to-end system integrity.

cd33-2003. In the event of a recount, canvassing should include VVPRs and/or authenticated CD-Rs.

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AVANTE has also pioneered the first use of the “randomly generated ballot access card” concept to ensure no one can cast more than one vote.

This is an AVANTE ballot access card reader with public and protective counters. The LED lights provide the elcard-encoder-v-200ection officials with the status of usage and other alerts pertaining to the voting unit. Ballot access cards that have a randomly generated 24-digit alphanumeric ballot access code must match one of the unused codes pre-loaded into the voting unit. This card will allow for the correct ballot style to be presented to the voter. This is an AVANTE stand-alone ballot access

card encoder used to provide information via an encoded card to the DRE voting unit as to the exact ballot style that the voter is to vote on. The ballot access card also includes a randomly generated 24-digit alphanumeric ballot access code that must match one of the unused codes pre-loaded into the voting unit to achieve the highest security and integrity.

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All DRE VOTE-TRAKKER® voting machines are equipped with the same extensive accessibility features that exceed the requirements of HAVA and the EAC 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. These features allow voters with physical and visual disabilities the ability to vote independently and privately in any available alternate ballot language. The basic features have been proven with use since 2002 and have been enriched with input from disabled voters.

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