page_title: Moncena Dunn (inventor)
section_title: Use of the Dunn Ballot
hierarchical_section_title: Moncena Dunn (inventor) / Use of the Dunn Ballot
caption_attribution_description: English: Dunn Ballot, Wisconsin, date ca 1912, article Moncena Dunn
context_page_description: Moncena Dunn, was a farmer, telegrapher, optometrist, and inventor of the fraud-proof, color-coded coupon ballot.
context_section_description: Under Dunn's system there was a colored card of coupons for each party. Every voter was given two envelopes with his ballot. In one he placed the coupons of the candidates he voted for. In the other he placed the remaining coupons. If a voter desired to vote a straight ticket he tore off the full page which contained the names of all the candidates of his party. When he split his ticket he tore out the coupons on which were the names of the candidates he wished to vote for. The coupons of each party were of a different color. 
  "Only one ballot is to be counted at a time," Dunn told the Chicago Tribune. "When the judge takes the envelopes out of the ballot box he numbers them. There is a pocket in the discard envelope to contain the smaller envelope which holds the voted coupons. The Judge takes the coupons out and reads the vote by the color and number of office, each office being numbered on the ballot. A person standing twenty feet away can tell if he reads the vote correctly. After the vote is read, the judge puts the envelopes together again. Then if any controversy over the result arises there are two records of the ballot. There are the names the voter voted for and the names to be discarded. There is never any question as to what the voter meant, as there so frequently is with the present ballot in general use. There is absolutely no chance for short pencil work. If there are any errors, they are easily caught. We consider, in counting, only the names voted for. With the present ballot we consider all the candidates of every party. Experiment has shown that the ballots can be counted four times as fast as at present."
caption: Dunn Ballot, Wisconsin, ca 1912
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