Patent ID: 8191764

Claim:
A method of detecting security features on paper ballots so as to distinguish between an authentic ballot printed on paper that includes a security feature and a counterfeit ballot printed on paper that does not include said security feature, comprising: providing paper that includes at least one security feature; causing a plurality of authentic ballots to be printed on said paper; using a ballot tabulator to process a paper ballot comprising indicia printed on a paper, wherein one or more voting selections are marked on said paper ballot, and wherein said ballot tabulator is programmed to: (a) scan said paper ballot to determine said voting selections marked thereon; (b) detect a presence or an absence of said security feature on said paper of said paper ballot, wherein detection of said security feature indicates that said paper ballot comprises one of said authentic ballots and wherein failure to detect said security feature indicates that said paper ballot comprises a counterfeit ballot; (c) tabulate said voting selections if said security feature is detected on said paper of said paper ballot; and (d) present an alert if said security feature is not detected on said paper of said paper ballot.