Patent ID: 7975920

Claim:
A method for reading paper ballots wherein each paper ballot is enclosed in a ballot envelope having a machine-readable envelope identifier and voter information including a signature thereon, wherein each paper ballot is markable for marking voting selections thereon, said method comprising: reading each ballot envelope including reading at least the machine readable envelope identifier and signature thereon; decoding the machine readable envelope identifier read from each ballot envelope; displaying at least the decoded envelope identifier and signature read from each ballot envelope for determining from the envelope identifier, the signature, or the envelope identifier and the signature, whether the ballot is a valid ballot; and if the ballot is determined to be a valid ballot, removing the paper ballot determined to be a valid ballot from its ballot envelope, and then performing the following steps on each paper ballot determined to be a valid ballot: reading each paper ballot; selecting a template for decoding voting selections marked on each paper ballot responsive to an identifier read from that paper ballot; decoding the voting selections read from each paper ballot in accordance with the selected template therefore; and tabulating the voting selections decoded from each of the paper ballots consistent with their respective selected templates.