Here is an initial “rough draft” of the idea. Hopefully we can get something (ANYTHING) better than our current "paperless" system in place within a reasonable amount of time.

1. Ballots are numbered and voting machines MUST print a receipt when each vote is cast.
2. Results are published online – giving voters the ability to ensure their vote was properly counted.

Main problems to overcome:

    1.  Votes improperly counted (awarded to the wrong candidate) or NOT counted at all

    2.  “Ballot stuffing” (adding non-existent “votes” to a candidate’s total.)

For simplicity, I've created a short video showing the “end result” that a voter would experience using the proposed system. First, the basic information:

Our voter is from New Hampshire, the two Presidential Candidates are Hillary Clinton and Ron Paul. 

The voter arrives to cast his vote. He is given a ballot that has its own UNIQUE number printed on it. He casts his vote (for Ron Paul) and the ballot is fed through a vote counting machine. The machine gives the voter a receipt. The receipt contains the unique number that was printed on his ballot, as well as the candidate he voted for. Example:

Vote receipt number:  03256 – 139 You voted for Candidate: Ron Paul

“03256” denotes the zip code of the voter’s city / town.

“139” denotes the UNIQUE number on this voter’s ballot. (All ballots for each zip code are numbered, starting with the number “1” and ending with the final number of ballots printed. The number “139” indicates that this voter received the “139^th” ballot from his town’s total ballot supply. -more details on why this "unique number" is necessary in a minute. )

After ALL RESULTS have been calculated, they are uploaded to each states “vote check” website. This will allow each voter to verify that their vote was counted properly.

This one and a half minute video (with audio) shows the basic idea:

http://tree3.com/Video/vote/vcheck.wmv

Questions / Answers

Why is a receipt necessary?

1. It provides the voter “physical proof” of how he or she actually voted.
2. It allows the voter to verify his or her “ballot number” was recorded properly. Some might ask: “Why not simply have the machine generate a “random number” and print it on the receipt –why the need for numbered ballots which are read and then recorded on the receipt?” Answer: Without a unique number printed on each ballot, it would be very easy to steal votes. As an example, imagine the ballots are not individually numbered and the machine is supposed to assign a “random number” to each receipt. You vote for Ron Paul and the “receipt number” you’re given ends in “139.” …but then, approximately 10 voters later, another “Ron Paul voter” is also given the random number “139.” …and then another, and another. When each of these voters go home to check their vote, they’ll find “139” recorded in the right place…but there will be no way for them to know that their “4 votes” have been reduced to just ONE entry.

More on numbered ballots:

1. They will allow people to make sure their vote was not recorded under TWO candidates (negating their vote.)
2. They will make “ballot stuffing” very difficult. (If your town printed 1,000 individually numbered ballots, and after all votes were cast there were 200 ballots left (801, 802, 803, 804, 805, 806, 807, etc.) then logically, NONE of those numbers can appear as a “vote” under a candidate’s name.

I understand some people are worried about others knowing who they voted for and, as such, giving voters the option to choose from a “shuffled” pile of ballots might be necessary. Even in this case, one person could watch the initial ballot count (prior to the polls opening) and the “end count” (after the polls close) to guard against fraud.

Again, this is a rough draft of the idea. If you see holes that I have missed, please let me know.

Joe Plummer 2.8.08
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