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# RE: Gems - Ballot On Demand

- To: "Rcr List (E-mail)" <rcr@dieboldes.com>
- Subject: RE: Gems - Ballot On Demand
- From: "Ken Clark" <ken@dieboldes.com>
- Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 16:06:12 -0600
- Importance: Normal
- In-Reply-To: <01BF67FC.56297400@JEFF>

> Requested: January 26, 2000
> Required: For March Primary Elections
> Jurisdiction: Accounts that currently print BOD ballots. El Paso, TX
> Douglas, NE Lancaster, NE Shelby, TN Gaston, NC

Must be election season; time for the annual BOD RCR.
> We need a print window or modification to the current print
> window for the
> BOD customers that can bring up the Reporting Precinct Name not
> number, and
> the Party Name not card. This way, they can select the ballots they wish
> to print without having to look up the information on one of our reports.

Official response:

Global has contracted with RX Laser to deliver Ballot On Demand functionality. Requests relating to BOD should be directed to them. The GEMS Print Artwork dialog is not, and was not designed to be, a Ballot On Demand printing system. It is designed to generate postscript files to create typesetter's plates for printing.

GEMS does provide an export of the ballot artwork relationship data: File->Export Results->Export Card Info. This text file can be parsed and, together with the a directory of postscript artwork files, used as input for a Ballot On Demand system provided by RX or CMIS or whomever. The export file contains the report precinct name and party name.

Unofficial response:

This exact same request was sent by Jeff last year, and by Sophie the year before that. Repeating the official response is getting a bit tired. It is also more than a little unfair to anyone who has to deal with BOD accounts, since they invariably end up having to make due with the GEMS Print Artwork dialog and reports.

We'll see what we can do to make the print artwork dialog a little more "BOD friendly". It is not as simple as adding report precinct name and party name, because that does not deal with multi-card ballots nor split precincts. We'll try to take care of those cases as well.

Disclaimers:

- This doesn't make GEMS a BOD system. Treating it as such is a mistake.
- This doesn't solve any of the problems associated with BOD printers not meeting Ian's ballot artwork specification. Using ballots that do not meet spec is a mistake.
- Continuing to sell BOD when we do not have a workable BOD system is a mistake.
- I didn't do it, no one saw me do it, you can't prove anything.

Ken

- Follow-Ups:
  - Re: Gems - Ballot On Demand
    - From: "Ian Piper" <ian@dieboldes.com>
  - Re: Gems - Ballot On Demand
    - From: "Steve Knecht" <skglobal@earthlink.net>

- References:
  - Gems - Ballot On Demand
    - From: Jeff Hintz <jhglobal@earthlink.net>

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