Patent ID: 7635087

Claim:
A method for processing machine readable ballots comprising: imaging each page of a plurality of ballots using an image document scanner to provide a ballot image in a pixelated format or a bitmapped format for each page of each ballot, wherein each of the plurality of ballots comprises two or more pages, each page having a page number thereon; determining from the pixelated format or the bitmapped format ballot image the page numbers of each page of each ballot and whether the determined page numbers are in a page number sequence; if the determined page numbers are in a page number sequence, then: selecting a template for decoding voting selections marked on each page of each ballot responsive to the pixelated format or the bitmapped format ballot image of each page of each ballot; decoding from the pixelated format or the bitmapped format ballot image of each page of each ballot the voting selections marked on each page of each ballot in accordance with the selected template; and tabulating the decoded voting selections decoded from each page of each of the ballots consistent with the selected template; whereby the voting selections marked on each page of each ballot are decoded and tabulated in accordance with a selected template.