JP3531973B2 - Election voting equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an election voting device for voting an election using tokens, and more particularly to the contents of voting.
Without memorizing the information of the voters who voted,
The present invention relates to an election voting device that can associate the contents of votes with the electors, and can easily realize, for example, the work of deleting provisional votes at the time of voting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the conventional voting of elections in national and local governments, an elector himself writes on a ballot sheet distributed by an attendant at the time of reception and posts it in a ballot box. In addition, in the tentative vote, after writing on the ballot paper,
This was done by writing the name, address, etc. on the envelope for provisional voting, putting ballots in it, and then posting it in the ballot box.

[0003]

As described above, in the conventional election voting, OA is not progressing in the voting act, and since the counting work and the counting work are all carried out by the personnel work, the counting work is completed. There was a problem that it took a lot of time and was inefficient. In addition, because postcards for voting and ballots were required, it was not possible to make the election itself paperless, and the burden of voting management at the election administration committee etc. was heavy.

Further, in the case of provisional voting, conventionally, the electoral information and the voting content are separated, and therefore, when digitizing, provisional voting can be realized by adding the electoral information to the voting content. However, in this case, there arises a problem that the confidentiality of voting contents cannot be strictly maintained.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances,
The voting data of the elector is electronically performed by using tokens instead of ballots to provide a simple user interface to the elector, and the index data file that associates the elector and its voting contents is called the voting data file. It is an object of the present invention to provide an election voting device that can be independently provided and indirectly has voting information of an elector, and can easily realize a function of examining and deleting a provisional vote at the time of voting.

Further, in the present invention, the index data file of the voting data is provided in the other device connected by the network, the confidentiality of the election voting is further enhanced, and the examination and deletion function for the tentative voting at the time of the counting of votes. It is an object of the present invention to provide an election voting device that makes it feasible.

Further, in the present invention, by providing a function of adding index data of voting data to a file (reception check data file) which is referred to at the time of reception, an increase in the number of data files is suppressed and It is an object of the present invention to provide an election voting device that simplifies management and can easily realize examination and deletion functions for provisional voting at the time of voting.

[0008]

The present invention provides an operation input means for an elector, which comprises a position input device and a display device which is display-controlled in association with this device, and an election voting device presented by the elector. In an election voting device equipped with a token reading device that reads the content of the operation token, a candidate is selected by operating the operation input means and a means for checking the availability of the token based on the content read from the token When
A method of storing candidate information according to the candidate selection as voting information, and obtaining electoral information when reading the token, and obtaining storage destination information in the voting data file when voting information is stored in the voting data file. Then, using the acquired electoral information and storage destination information as index data of voting data, the file (index data file) is constructed separately from the voting data file, and means for storing is provided. To do.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the index data is transferred to another device via the network and the index data file is managed by the other device. Further, the present invention is characterized in that the index data is additionally stored in a file (acceptance check data file) used in the election acceptance process.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the voting act of the elector is electronically performed by using the token instead of the ballot sheet, and the vote deletion function at the time of counting the votes in the provisional voting is taken into consideration to correspond the elector and the voting contents. The attached index data is provided separately from the voting data file, the token information presented by the election is read, the elector information is acquired, and the elector information and the storage destination information in the voting data file are associated with each other. The index data is stored in a dedicated file (index data file) that is different from the voting data file. By voting the electors electronically using tokens instead of ballots, Voting can be made OA and paperless, and voting can be done by selecting candidates on the display screen. It can provide the interface. In addition, an index data file that associates elector and its voting content is provided independently of the voting data file, and indirectly holds the voting information of the elector, thereby maintaining the confidentiality of election voting and at the time of voting. It becomes possible to examine and delete the provisional vote of.

Further, according to the present invention, by storing the index data file in another device via a network, a function of examining and deleting a provisional vote at the time of tallying, which further enhances confidentiality of election votes, is realized. be able to.

Further, according to the present invention, the index data is additionally stored in a file used for the acceptance process of the election (acceptance check data file), so that the index file of the voting data is not provided and the data file in the system is stored. It is possible to suppress the increase, simplify the management of data files, and implement the examination and deletion functions for provisional votes at the time of aggregation.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Here, an elector uses a token for operating an election voting device instead of a ballot to perform a voting action by so-called electronic voting through a man-machine interface.

In FIG. 1, 11 is a token reading device provided at the reception of the polling place, which shows the contents of the election voting device operating token (T) presented by the elector (inserted in the card insertion slot). Read. At this time, the token (T) presented by the elector may be any storage medium such as a memory card having a semiconductor memory chip built therein, a magnetic card, or the like, but here, a magnetic card is used. Shall be configured. The data format of this token (T) will be described later with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a coordinate input device (position input device) 12
A is a voting operation input device in which A and the display device 12B are integrated, and inputs the position data designated by an elector's pen input operation. Display device 12B of this voting operation input device 12
Under the control of the processing control device 13, the candidate information (list of candidates, career history, etc.), voting guidance, etc. are selectively displayed according to the operation input of the elector. The configuration of the voting operation input device 12 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 2 and 10. The configuration of various display screens will be described later with reference to FIGS.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a processing control device for performing a voting process, a voting data index process, and the like. The voting read process is executed by the data read by the token reading device 11, and according to the data input from the voting operation input device 12. Execute the voting process. Furthermore, at the time of reading the token (T), when the electoral information acquisition process for acquiring the electoral information from the content of the token (T) is executed and the voting information according to the operation of the elector is stored in the voting data file 15A. Then, the storage location information acquisition process for acquiring the storage location information in the voting data file 15A is executed, and the elector information acquired through the elector information acquisition process and the storage destination information acquired through the storage destination information acquisition process are displayed. Correlation is stored in the index data file 15B as index data of voting data.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a storage device configured with various files. Here, in addition to the acceptance check data file referred to at the time of acceptance, the voting data file 15A for storing voting information of each elector, etc. An index data file 15B for accumulating index data in which the elector and the voting contents are associated with each other is provided independently of the voting data file 15A in order to indirectly hold the voting information.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the voting operation input device 12. The voting operation input device 12 is a transparent tablet 2a that constitutes a coordinate input device (position input device) 12A.
And a liquid crystal display 2b constituting the display device 12B
However, both have the same size and have the same coordinate plane, and the transparent tablet 2a is laminated on the liquid crystal display 2b to be integrally configured.

The position designation on the transparent tablet 2a is carried out by operating the pen (P), and the instruction is given by the elector designating an arbitrary position on the transparent tablet 2a with the pen (P). The coordinate of the position data is recognized by the control device main body 2c and sent to the processing control device 13,
It is reflected on the display screen of the liquid crystal display 2b.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing each functional unit of the processing control device 13. Here, an input unit 13x for inputting token data and coordinate data, a token check processing unit 13a, and an elector data acquisition process. Part 13
b, area discrimination processing unit 13c, candidate discrimination processing unit 13d,
A candidate confirmation processing unit 13e, a voting processing unit 13f, an index data processing unit 13g, a display control unit 13z for controlling display of candidate information, voting guidance and the like are provided.
Further, in the internal memory unit, the position data buffer 13
i, area data buffer 13j, candidate data buffer 13k, elector data buffer 13l, voting data buffer 13m, storage data buffer 13n, output data buffer 13o, and other various data buffers are provided, as shown in FIG. Further, various operation flags such as a received flag Fa, a provisional voting flag Fb, and a voting completion flag Fc are provided.

The electoral data acquisition processing unit 13b executes electoral information acquisition processing when the token (T) of the token reading device 11 is read, and the electoral No. etc. is elected based on the content of the token (T). Get person information. The voting processing unit 13f executes a storage destination information acquisition process when storing the voting information according to the operation of the elector in the voting data file 15A, and stores the storage destination No. indicating the storage destination in the voting data file 15A at that time. Get storage location information such as. In the index data processing unit 13g, the electoral information acquired by the electoral data acquisition processing unit 13b and the storage destination information in the voting data file 15A acquired by the voting processing unit 13f are paired and used as index data of the voting data. It is stored in the data file 15B.

Regarding the area data buffer 13j, as shown in FIG. 4, area coordinate data (4b-4
e) and button coordinate data 4f are data for one area,
These data are provided for the number of areas, and data for one screen including the screen No. data 4a is further provided for the number of screens.

Regarding the button coordinate data 4f, as shown in FIG. 5, the button coordinate data (5b-5
e) is one piece of data, the number of buttons and the number-of-buttons data 5a are one area of data, and these are provided for the number of areas.

Regarding the candidate data buffer 13k, as shown in FIG. 6, political party name data 6a, candidate kana name data 6b, candidate kanji name data 6c, age data 6d, and photographic image data 6e. The data is for one candidate, and these are provided for the number of candidates.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the elector data buffer 13l is provided with elector No. data 7a, name data 7b, address data 7c, etc., and further has a received flag, a provisional vote flag, etc. Configured to have.

As shown in FIG. 8, the voting data buffer 13m comprises token serial number data 8a, voting data 8b, and voting time data 8c.

Regarding the storage destination data buffer 13n, as shown in FIG. 9, the polling place No. data 9a, the voting data file No. data 9b, and the data storage destination N are stored.
o. Structured with data 9c.

The structure of the coordinate input device (position input device) 12A of the voting operation input device 12 is shown in FIG. The coordinate input device (position input device) 12A is realized as an electrostatic transparent tablet.

As shown in FIG. 10A, the electrostatic transparent tablet has a pair of transparent glass plates 10a and 10b joined together through an insulating protection layer (not shown). A plurality of transparent electrodes 10 are provided on each of the transparent glass plates 10a and 10b.
c and 10d are arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval, and the transparent glass plates 10a and 10b are joined so that the transparent electrodes 10c and 10d are orthogonal to each other. The transparent electrodes 10c and 10d are connected to the shift registers 10f and 10g so as to operate under the control of the shift controller 10e, respectively, as shown in FIG.

With the above configuration, the position coordinate sequence, which is characters or other pattern data written and input through the position input device 12A, is driven by the processing control device 13 so that the same coordinates are displayed on the display screen of the display device 12B. It is supposed to be done. By this display control, the pattern input by handwriting on the transparent tablet surface is simultaneously displayed as the handwriting data, and characters or other patterns are input so that the pattern may be drawn with a pen.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing from selection of candidates to completion of voting in the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 12 shows the flow of selection processing (step S10) in FIG. It is a flowchart shown. Each of these processes is executed under the control of each function processing program of the process control device 13.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the data format of the token (T) presented to the token reading device 11, in which the token identifier, polling place No., token serial No. voting right flag, and elector No. ., Elector's name, address, constituency code, etc. are recorded.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the structure of index data (INDEX DATA) generated by index processing of voting data, and here is shown as an example of the format of acceptance check data. Index data (IN
DEX DATA), when reading the token (T),
Elector information such as elector No., accepted flag, provisional voting flag, etc., obtained from the contents of the token (T), and voting information according to the operation of the elector, are stored when storing in the voting data file 15A. , Polling place No., voting data file No. and storage destination information such as the storage destination No. in the voting data file 15A. Information such as the elector No. and the storage destination No. is stored in the index data file 15B as index data of the voting data.

FIGS. 15 to 17 are views showing the election voting screen displayed on the display device 12B of the voting operation input device 12 in the above embodiment, FIG. 15 being an initial screen, and FIG. 16 being a candidate. The selection screen, FIG. 17 is a candidate confirmation / voting screen. Here, in FIG. 15, the initial screen is called screen 1, the candidate selection screen shown in FIG. 16 is called screen 2, and the candidate confirmation / voting screen shown in FIG. 17 is called screen 3.

The operation of the first embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the above figures. When the election voting device shown in FIG. 1 is activated, first the system processing is performed,
An initial screen as shown in FIG. 15 is displayed on the display device 12B of the voting operation input device 12 (step S1 in FIG. 11).
).

In the system processing processing at this time, initialization of the token reading device 11, initialization of processing data for performing the voting processing, and further processing such as memory reservation are performed. In this embodiment, the various data buffers shown in FIG. 3 and the flags shown in FIG. 1 are once initialized, and only specific data (values) necessary for activation are selectively initialized.

In this initial state, the elector
When the token (T) is inserted into the card insertion slot of the token reading device 11 according to the guidance on the initial screen shown in Fig. 11, it is checked whether the token (T) is a proper token (steps S2 and S3 in Fig. 11). .

In this embodiment, the token (T) is composed of a card having a magnetic stripe and is realized by a data format as shown in FIG. In addition, in the token check processing at this time, it is checked whether the token is a regular token from the token identifier in the token (T), the polling place No., the serial No. voting right flag, and the like.

As a result of this token check, if the token is not a regular token, the token is discharged (returned to the elector),
Processing for returning to the token (card) insertion waiting state is performed again (steps S4, S5, S2 ... In FIG. 11).

If a regular token is inserted,
Obtain electoral information in the inserted token (T),
This elector information is shown in FIG.
(Step S6 in FIG. 11), and a screen for selecting a candidate as shown in FIG. 16 is displayed (step S7 in FIG. 11).
).

On this candidate selection screen, that is, on the transparent tablet 2a of the voting operation input device 12, the stylus pen (P) is used to specify the position (candidate area) and the switch operation of the pen (P) is performed. By giving an input instruction by
Elections are made by the candidates.

At this time, the detected information is stored in the position data buffer 13i shown in FIG. 3 as the result of interrupting the tablet driver at a certain fixed time. It is obtained by referring to.

When the elector brings the stylus pen closer to the display screen according to the guidance on the display screen, the designated coordinates are detected at that time, the display screen is discriminated, and the region data in the region data buffer 13j corresponding to the screen is discriminated. Than,
Appropriate areas and buttons are discriminated (FIG. 11).
Steps S8 and S9).

Then, a selection process corresponding to each screen is performed (step S10 in FIG. 11). The selection process at this time will be described later with reference to FIG. After performing this selection process, the voting completion flag Fc is checked, and if this flag is on (ON), it is determined that election candidate selection has been completed, and the storage destination data in the voting data file 15A is determined. The data is acquired and stored in the storage destination data buffer 13n (steps S11 and S12 in FIG. 11). In this embodiment, as the storage destination data, the polling place No. and the voting data file No.
And the data storage number are acquired and stored in the storage destination data buffer 13n, respectively.

Then, the voting data is stored in the voting data file 15A (step S13 in FIG. 11),
The data in the elector data buffer 13l and the data in the storage destination data buffer 13n are stored in the index data file 15B of the voting data as index data for one vote (step S14 in FIG. 11).

After performing the voting process and the indexing process as described above, it is considered that the voting of one elector is completed,
Return to the system initialization process to accommodate the next elector. Here, the selection process (step S10 in FIG. 11) will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

In this selection process, when this process (selection process) is called from the main routine, the screen displayed on the screen is discriminated and the process for each selection (instruction) button in each screen is performed. .

That is, on the screen 2 (screen for candidate selection) shown in FIG. 16, the candidate display portion (candidate region) is used as a selection button, and any one of the plurality of buttons is selected. Causes the display screen to change to screen 3 shown in FIG.
, And returns to the main routine (steps S21 to S24 in FIG. 12).

On the screen 3 (candidate confirmation screen) shown in FIG. 17, the candidate information acquired by the selection process of screen 2 is displayed, and [YES] or [NO] is used as a selection button.
Confirm the voting process with the elector.

Here, when the [YES] button is selected, the voting completion flag Fc is turned on (ON), and the token serial No., the voting data, and the voting time data are stored in the voting data buffer 13m. And are stored and the process returns to the main routine (steps S25 to S28 in FIG. 12).

When the [NO] button is selected, the screen is returned to the candidate selection screen of the main routine, and the candidates are reselected (step S29 in FIG. 12). By the above processing, the voting processing and the index processing (storage destination index data generation processing) are executed.

By having the function of the above-described embodiment, a simple user interface can be provided to the elector by using the token (T) instead of the ballot paper, and the index in which the elector and the voting contents are associated with each other. By providing the data file 15B independently of the voting data file 15A and indirectly holding the voting information of the elector, it is possible to respond to the provisional vote at the time of voting without looking at the voting contents, as is done in conventional elections. Can be examined and deleted.

18 and 19 are views for explaining another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention. Here, the same parts as those of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 18, the processing control unit 13 is provided with a communication processing unit 13h for transmitting / receiving data to / from another external device, and the communication processing unit 13h is provided on a network connected by a line (L). An index data file 15B of voting data is provided in the storage unit 20 of another device. As described above, the storage unit 20 in the other device on the network such as the voting terminal server machine is provided with the index data file 15B by the communication function, so that the confidentiality of the election vote can be further improved, and the vote voting It is possible to implement the examination and deletion function for provisional voting.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of the third embodiment of the present invention. The third embodiment shown in FIG. 19 has a communication function similar to that of the second embodiment.
Index data (INDE
X-DATA) is stored in the reception check data file in the reception processing terminal on the network.

As described above, by providing the function of adding index data (INDEX-DATA) of voting data on the reception check data file, the increase of the data file is suppressed, the management of the data file is simplified, and at the time of counting the votes. It is possible to easily implement the examination and deletion functions for the provisional vote of.

In the above embodiment, the token (T)
13A, a magnetic stripe card as shown in FIG. 13A is used, and accordingly, the token reading device 11 is also configured to use a reader for a magnetic stripe card. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The token reading device 11 may be an IC card reader, or the token may be a memory card and the token reading device 11 may be a memory card reader.

Further, the position detecting method of the position input device 12A constituting the voting operation input device 12 may be, for example, a pressure sensitive method or an electromagnetic induction method other than the electrostatic induction method. Also, the tablet is not a transparent type,
For example, it may be a translucent type or an opaque type, and the stylus pen may be of a cord type, a cordless type, or a pressure-sensitive type in which a pen is not used on the touch panel. Also, the display device 1
The 2B may be another display device such as a plasma display instead of the liquid crystal display. or,
The position input device 12A and the display device 12B do not have to be integrated.

Further, the storage device 15 may be any storage device such as a hard disk, a memory card or a silicon disk. Also, the data structure in the token,
The contents of the voting data, the format of the index data, etc. are not limited to those in the above-described embodiments, and other data structures and data formats may be used.

[0060]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a simple user interface can be provided to the elector as a constitution in which the elector's voting action is electronically performed by using a token instead of a ballot sheet. In addition to the above, an index data file that associates voters with their voting contents is provided independently of the voting data file, and indirectly holds the voting information of the elector, so that a function for examining and deleting provisional votes at the time of voting is available. It is possible to provide an election voting device that can easily achieve.

Further, according to the present invention, by providing an index data file of voting data in another device connected by the network, the confidentiality of the election voting can be further enhanced, and the examination and deletion of the provisional voting at the time of voting can be performed. It is possible to provide an election voting device whose function can be easily realized.

Further, according to the present invention, by providing the function of adding index data of voting data to the file referred to at the time of reception (reception check data file), the increase of the data file is suppressed and the data file management is performed. It is possible to provide an election voting device that simplifies and simplifies the examination and deletion functions for provisional voting at the time of voting.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a voting operation input device 12 in the first embodiment.
FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a processing control device 13 in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an area data buffer 13j shown in FIG.

5 is a diagram showing a configuration of button coordinate data 4f shown in FIG.

6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a candidate data buffer 13k shown in FIG.

7 is a diagram showing a configuration of an electoral data buffer 13l shown in FIG.

8 is a diagram showing a configuration of a voting data buffer 13m shown in FIG.

9 is a diagram showing the configuration of a storage destination data buffer 13n shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a position input device 12A in the first embodiment.
FIG.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the first embodiment.

12 is a flowchart showing the flow of the selection process (step S10) of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a data format in a token in the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 shows index data (INDE generated by index processing of voting data in the first embodiment.
A diagram showing an example format of (X DATA).

FIG. 15 is an initial screen (screen 1) in the first embodiment.
FIG.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a configuration of a candidate selection screen (screen 2) in the first embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing the configuration of a candidate confirmation / voting screen (screen 3) in the first embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a system configuration example in a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of system configuration in a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Token reading device, 12 ..., 12A ... Coordinate input device (position input device), 12B ... Display device, 13 ... Processing control device, 13a ... Token check processing unit, 13b
... Electoral data acquisition processor, 13c ... Area discrimination processor,
13d ... Candidate discrimination processing unit, 13e ... Candidate confirmation processing unit, 13f ... Voting processing unit, 13g ... Index data processing unit, 13i ... Position data buffer, 13j ... Area data buffer, 13k ... Candidate data buffer, 13l
Electoral data buffer, 13m ... Voting data buffer, 13n ... Storage data buffer, 13o ... Output data buffer, 15 ... Storage device, 15A ... Voting data file, 15B ... Index data file, T ... Token.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A token reading device for reading the contents of an election token, a voting operation input device having a position input section and a display section controlled in conjunction with the input section, and a voting data file for storing voting information. In the election voting device that has an election token and is activated by presenting the election token to check and vote for the election token, the election to obtain the electoral information according to the content of the election token when the election token is read Person information acquisition means, storage location acquisition means for acquiring storage location information in the voting data file when voting information is stored in the voting data file, elector information acquired by the elector information acquisition means, and the above Index storage means for storing the storage location information acquired by the storage location acquisition means as voting data index data. An election voting device characterized in that index data is stored in a storage means different from a voting data file. 2. The election voting device according to claim 1, further comprising communication means for transferring the index data to an external device via a line. 3. The election voting device according to claim 1, wherein the index data is stored in a specific data file accessed at the time of reception.