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# RE: serial numbers on ballots

- To: <rcr@dieboldes.com>
- Subject: RE: serial numbers on ballots
- From: "Frank Kaplan" <fkglobal@earthlink.net>
- Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 17:01:00 -0700
- Importance: Normal
- In-Reply-To: <NFBBKMOBHKMAAGCKBJFGIELNCAAA.rodney@dieboldes.com>

I've had some experience with BOD. Comments below.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-rcr@dieboldes.com [mailto:owner-rcr@dieboldes.com]On Behalf Of Rodney Turner
> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 3:17 PM
> To: rcr@dieboldes.com
> Subject: RE: serial numbers on ballots
> Tab, I hope these answers help you. If not, please give me a call.
> 1. Does this not violate voter secrecy? Some states have legislation that prohibits any identifying mark on the ballot that would allow someone to identify the voter who cast the ballot.
> No, in Texas they track their ballots by putting serial numbers on them (Texas Election Code 52.062). They have something that is called a ballot-register that they must keep, so they know where their ballots went and how many.
> Are you talking serial number on the ballot, or on a stub? If on the ballot, please check with SOS. I've never heard of a voted ballot being allowed to be traced back to an individual voter. If you're talking stub, how will you print an 18" ballot (remember at least 2 languages) plus a 1" or so stub?
> 2. If we were to implement the 'automatic' incrementing of serial numbers, how about ballots that do not print correctly? Can we just ignore this problem and have 'missing' serial numbers.
> NO.. we would have to have a way to reprint the ballot with the correct serial number. Lots of luck. Another issue to consider: serial numbers at various sites and then spoiled or missing numbers at each site. This is a nightmare to administer.
> 3. What kind of audit logging to they want, if any?
> No audit log needed.... I would think you have to audit. What do you tell the newspapers when they realize we can print extra ballots on demand and have no audit of the reconciliation numbers?
> 4. Is printing the serial number next to the ballot/precinct label at the bottom of the ballot acceptable, or are they going to want to place the serial number somewhere in the header of the ballot? Implementing this would be a lot of work.

> I understand. The counties would accept whereever we decide to place the serial number. Printing the serial number next to the ballot/precinct label would be acceptable. See comment above.

> According to Ian, the font size would have to be the same. So long as it is visible, I think where it would be the easiest to implement would be acceptable.

> .
> 5. When does this have to be implemented by?
> The sooner the better. I know this will take some time. I just need to let the customer (Bexar County and Travis County) know we can do it, and will be able to deliverif they choose us as a vendor. I can tell El Paso county that we are working on it.
> Thanks.
> Rodney
> Ballot on Demand is an extremely troublesome product.
> We have never been able to make this work successfully. There are equipment issues (remember when HP said they would build one for us and then stopped supporting the printer?), personnel issues, software issues, AND we don't make enough money on this to sneeze at.
> Juan, Rodney- I've had this same issue with accounts before, most recently in Johnson County, KS. They had printed 60,000+ BOD ballots from their CMIS system and insisted we had to have BOD. We explained that the TS, coupled with VC Programmer, would solve their walk-in issues. Then we delivered some of our Spectrum produced ballots. They loved the value added features of multiple colors, customization in headers, pre-printed test decks, precinct ids, etc at no additional cost. Moreover, we can deliver their postal ballots folded and already sorted in boxes by precinct and/or ballot style. The County argument is that they will run out of ballots. Our response is to point out that they will have all the value added features and a true inventory of their ballots. Additionally, we should point out that we can assist them with some inventory practices, and, because we print digitally, no plates and no minimum order, we can turn around their possible re-orders in record time. For example, if they take inventory by say 2:00pm central time, we can have our west coast facilities possibly print that afternoon. Although we can't always promise delivery the next am, we can certainly promise a 36 hour turn around.
> If we are so far along in the cycle that it is impossible to sell this solution right now, my suggestion is to talk through the BOD and whet their appetite for this digital solution. Bexar is visiting Johnson County with Barry on Thursday. I think Barry can prime Connie Schmidt to help with this solution.
> Let's please think this through before we throw resources at a BOD solution.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-rcr@dieboldes.com [mailto:owner-rcr@dieboldes.com]On Behalf Of Talbot Iredale
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 5:35 PM
> To: rcr@dieboldes.com
> Subject: Re: serial numbers on ballots

> > Rodney,
> > I have a few question regarding this RCR:
> > 1. Does this not violate voter secrecy? Some states have legislation that prohibits any identifying mark on the ballot that would allow someone to identify the voter who cast the ballot.
> > 2. If we were to implement the 'automatic' incrementing of serial numbers, how about ballots that do not print correctly? Can we just ignore this problem and have 'missing' serial numbers.
> > 3. What kind of audit logging to they want, if any?
> > 4. Is printing the serial number next to the ballot/precinct label at the bottom of the ballot acceptable, or are they going to want to place the serial number somewhere in the header of the ballot? Implementing this would be a lot of work.
> > 5. When does this have to be implemented by?
> > Tab

> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Rodney Turner
> > > To: rcr@dieboldes.com
> > > Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 8:49 AM
> > > Subject: serial numbers on ballots
> > > We are in the process of Best and Final Offer with two counties, Bexar County and Travis County.
> > > We are going county wide with AccuVote-TS in El Paso county.
> > > These counties will all have BOD printers. They are requesting that their BOD printer be able to print
> > > serial numbers on their ballots. They want to be able to manually set the first number, then have it
> > > increment sequence ally from there. This could seal the deal for at least one county, Bexar. We would
> > > win big points with El Paso and Travis. We need to have an answer for them fairly quickly. They will be making their
> > > decision around the 29th of this month. Thanks.

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