Patent ID: 7975919

Claim:
A method of enabling a voter having a secret vote code to vote in a vote by mail election, comprising: translating the secret vote code of said voter into a one-time code valid only for said election; storing said one-time code; mailing a voting package to said voter, the voting package including at least one ballot, a return envelope, and a mechanism for enabling the voter to translate the voter's secret vote code into a translated format; receiving the return envelope from the voter, the return envelope received from the voter including the at least one ballot completed by the voter, the voter's signature, and the translated format of the voter's secret vote code; determining whether the voter's signature obtained from the return envelope matches a stored version of said voter's signature; obtaining a second one-time code based on said translated format obtained from the return envelope and determining whether said second one-time code matches said stored one-time code; and counting the at least one ballot completed by the voter in said election only if it is determined that: (i) the voter's signature obtained from the return envelope matches said stored version of said voter's signature, and (ii) the second one-time code matches said stored one-time code.