JP2002230609A - Electronic voting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic voting device allowing even physically handicapped voters to vote as smoothly as healthy people do, while assuring protection of individual information. SOLUTION: A display means for performing a display using vision, voice, vibration and letters is provided as a display means for voters who practice voting. In particular, a letter guide means comprises a 'kana (the Japanese syllabary)' letter display device capable of displaying letters in their right stroke orders using a touch pin, and a Braille display device, so that all voters including physically handicapped voters can smoothly vote and the process of vote counting is smoothened to promote a barrier-free voting for visually and aurally handicapped people to make fair election possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic voting apparatus used for voting in an election, and more particularly, to an electronic voting apparatus having a physically handicapped person, so that a voting person can perform voting smoothly as well as a healthy person. The present invention relates to an electronic voting apparatus provided with a display means capable of knowing display contents.

[0002]

[Prior art]

Conventionally, the elections of members of the Diet, prefectural governors, members of the Diet, mayors, mayors, and members of the Diet,
The implementation has been performed in the following procedure. In other words, based on the Public Office Election Law, a postcard to be a polling place admission ticket is mailed in advance from the local government to the voters, and the voter brings the postcard to the polling place on the day of the election, and the voters themselves are checked against the electoral list. Receive confirmation that

[0003] When a voter has been confirmed that he / she is the person himself / herself, and is given a voting paper, he / she writes the name of the candidate on the voting paper and then posts it in a predetermined voting box for voting. Then, after closing the voting, the ballot boxes were collected in a facility such as a gymnasium, and a staff member performed the counting of votes and counted the voting results. Furthermore, the explanation of the method of filling the ballot paper to the electors was based on oral explanation by a staff member of the polling place when handing out the ballot paper, and posting of the ballot at the entry place on the ballot paper.

[0004] Therefore, in the election according to the conventional procedure described above, there is a problem that the operation load and the work load on the voter and the election manager are large, and a lot of time and labor are required to execute the voting. It was one of the factors that hindered the increase in turnout.

Under these circumstances, in recent years IT (Info)
Along with the advancement of technology (rmation technology), various electronic voting systems which are a paperless voting system using a computer have been proposed, and an example thereof is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2747171. According to the above disclosed technology, a voter performs an input operation on an election terminal computer installed at a polling place by self-writing with an electronic pen to execute voting, and further compiles voting result data into voting data. By transferring the data to another computer and storing it on a database, the counting operation can be performed instantaneously.

[0006] However, the input device of the election terminal in the above disclosed technology is designed on the assumption that it is used by a healthy person who does not have a physical disability. As with, no consideration was given to allowing a smooth vote.

[0007] In the conventional voting using paper as described above, a voter who has a disability in audio-visual functions and limbs, for example, a person who cannot see the eyes at all, is a candidate for voting for a predetermined agent. They voted by giving their names and filling out ballot papers, which was very painful in terms of privacy protection and a major problem in conducting fair elections.

[0008] Therefore, even if an electronic voting system capable of voting electronically is realized, a conventional configuration that does not consider a disabled person in performing voting has a physical disability. The traditional situation in which the elector asked a proxy to perform the actual voting when voting was not expected to improve at all.

[0009] Therefore, there is a problem that even if voting in the future is entirely shifted to the electronic voting system, the above disadvantageous situation for the handicapped cannot be improved. On the contrary, electors who are not good at machine operations are more likely to make voting more difficult, inconvenient, and painful than ever before, even worsening the situation. . This could be a serious problem that goes against the trend of the barrier-free era.

[0010] As described above, the conventional election voting has a problem that the operation load and the work load on the voter and the election manager are large, and that voting requires a lot of time and labor, and is physically inconvenient. They lacked consideration for free people. This was one of the factors that hindered the increase in turnout. And even in the electronic voting system that is gradually being introduced, there is not enough consideration for physically handicapped people, and there is no solution to the above-mentioned problems in voting using paper. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and particularly relates to an electronic voting apparatus provided with a selecting means for electronically selecting a specific candidate to be voted from a plurality of candidates. A plurality of selection keys provided on a selection means, having a display portion on the surface of which a code is displayed by an uneven shape so that recognition is possible, and performing selection by pressing, and a plurality of pins arranged in the same direction. By protruding only a pin member of a specific combination from among members, a display unit that displays information for associating a code with a plurality of candidates so that the information can be recognized by touch is provided. Promote digitization in election voting and tallying work, so that even if multiple elections are held at the same time, they can be executed without error and even voters who are physically disabled The vote can, and an object thereof is to provide an electronic voting device having excellent fair operability and reliability for all voters.

[0012]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an electronic voting apparatus having the following configuration. (1) selection means (external selection device) 70 for electronically selecting a specific candidate to be voted from among a plurality of candidates,
In an electronic voting device (electronic voting terminal) provided with 80,
A display portion (numerical (braille) convex portion) displaying a code (numerical character, o, x) in an uneven shape so that it can be recognized by touching is provided on the surface (key top), and the selection is made by pressing. , A plurality of selection keys (numerical keys, right / wrong confirmation keys) 76, 74 provided in the selection means 70, 80
And a number of pin members (tactile pins) aligned in the same direction
Display means (character display) 71, 81 for displaying information for associating the code with the plurality of candidates by touching and recognizing them by projecting only a pin member of a specific combination from among the members. An electronic voting device comprising: (2) In an electronic voting apparatus provided with selecting means 70 and 80 for electronically selecting a specific item to be voted from among a plurality of items, a display unit displaying a sign by an uneven shape so that the item can be touched and recognized. And a plurality of selection keys 76, 74 provided on the selection means 70, 80, and a specific one from a large number of pin members arranged in the same direction. Electronic voting characterized by comprising display means 71 and 81 for displaying information for associating the code with the plurality of items by touching and recognizing the code by projecting only the pin members of the combination. apparatus. (3) The display means (character display) 71 displays a character by projecting only the pin member of the specific combination, and corresponds to a specific portion of the character that sequentially changes according to the stroke order of the character. 3. The electronic voting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein only the pin members are sequentially projected. (4) The symbol displayed on the display of the selection keys 76 and 74 is Braille, and the display means (Braille display)
The electronic voting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the braille device is configured to display the braille by protruding only the specific pin member. (5) It further comprises vibrating means (vibrators) 77, 87 which vibrate according to a predetermined sequence according to the selecting operation using the selecting means 70, 80 and can sense the vibration by touching. Claim 1
The electronic voting apparatus according to claim 4.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Figure 1
FIG. 1 is an external view of a voting terminal as an example according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the voting terminal of FIG.
3 is a configuration diagram of software describing a program executed by the voting terminal of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a software configuration diagram mainly showing a data flow in the voting terminal of FIG. 1,
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a key provided in an external selection device connected to the voting terminal of FIG. 1 and used mainly by a deaf person to perform electronic voting, and FIG. 6 is mainly a deaf person connected to the voting terminal of FIG. Schematic top view of an external selection device that performs electronic voting using
FIG. 7 is a schematic top view of an external selection device having a Braille keyboard for performing electronic voting by connecting to the voting terminal of FIG. 1 separately or in parallel with the external selection device 70 of FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a flow in which a blind and deaf person actually performs voting using the electronic voting system including the voting terminal of FIG. 1, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of actual use of the electronic voting system including the voting terminal of FIG. 1. It is a flowchart explaining the flow which a blind deaf performs a vote.

In FIG. 1, which is an external view of the voting terminal of this embodiment, reference numeral 30 denotes a touch panel LCD, and reference numeral 33 denotes a magnetic card reader. When a voter performs a poll,
When a voting card (not shown) is inserted into the card reader 33 and the voting card is accepted, the touch panel LCD 3
Voting can be performed by touching the election display displayed at 0 with a finger. Also, the voting card may be configured to be taken into the voting terminal at the end of the voting.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the voting terminal of FIG. The LCD 31 displays various screens under the control of the CPU 41, such as an initial screen, a voting start screen, an election selection screen, a candidate list screen, a candidate details screen, a voting confirmation screen, and a voting end screen.

Touch panel 3 provided on LCD 31
Reference numeral 2 is controlled by a touch panel control program 15 described later, includes a switch for detecting contact with a voter's finger, and performs switching of various screens and the like according to the detection result of the switch.

The flash ROM 40 stores XML (eXte
nsible Markup Language) voting program 18, image files called from these XML files, voting data file 22, and the like are stored.

The CPU (Central Control Unit) 41 executes the XML voting program 18 stored in the flash ROM 40,
According to a WWW (World Wide Web) browser 17 and a voting control program 16, commands and data input from the touch panel 32 are received and processed.

The RAM 42 is a readable / writable memory, and functions as the voting data memory 20 and the like. The ROM 43 is a read-only memory, and stores a diagnostic program after the apparatus is powered on, a boot program for starting up the system, and the like.

The communication interface 44 includes a wired or wireless communication device, and controls data communication with a host computer or the like as needed. The FDD (floppy (registered trademark) disk drive device) 45 is used when passing voting data to a counting device (not shown) having a different configuration from the voting terminal without using the communication interface 44. . The card reader 33 reads information recorded on a voting card and the like.

The external selection devices 70 and 80 are input devices for a voter having visual impairment or the like to execute electronic voting, and will be described later in detail. The external selection device 7
In this embodiment, the reference numerals 0 and 80 are connected to the voting terminal via a wired transmission line, but may be connected to the voting terminal via a wireless transmission line or may be integrated with the voting terminal. And are encompassed by the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of software describing a program executed by the voting terminal of FIG. In FIG. 3, an operation system (OS) 10 is a real-time OS capable of real-time processing of performing a target process within a requested time. Serial I / O11
Controls input or output continuously one bit at a time when data is input / output.

The window system 12 manages a display portion divided by a frame or the like in a screen displayed on a display or the like. The file system 13 manages file maintenance such as file registration, addition, modification, and deletion.
Perform file protection to restrict access to specific files. The card control program 14 controls, for example, reading and writing of an IC card and a magnetic card.

The touch panel control program 15 controls input from the touch panel and output to the touch panel. The selection device control program 15b has a serial I / O
The input / output of data with an external selection device connected at 11 is controlled.

The WWW browser 17 is a viewer for browsing a file in a Web page description language (XML: eXtensible Markup Language) format, and can decode an XML file and display text and images on a screen.

The XML voting program 18 is a file in an XML format. The XML voting program 18 is used to format text (such as a candidate's name and the name of a political party to which the candidate belongs) and to store the location of an image (such as a photograph of the candidate's face) and the link destination. It has been described. XML
The voting program 18 runs on the browser 17 and runs on the OS 1
Operates independently of zero. In this way, by making the data different for each election, that is, the data that needs to be updated frequently, independent of the OS and describing it in a simple language such as XML, it is extremely easy to create and change these data.

In the voting terminal of this embodiment, XML3
. Script 2 (LSIS) for executing Local System Invocation (LSI) is extended on the basis of C.2.

The voting control program 16 receives the message described by the LSIS and delivered by the OS 10 to get out of the message waiting state. Since the voting control program 16 manages the waiting queue (queue) and the event, the O step S10 does not know the relationship.

When a software keyboard is displayed on a certain screen, the keyboard itself is directly managed by the window system 12. That is, one screen is divided into a part managed by the window system 12 and a part managed by the browser 17, and a keyboard is displayed in a shell window that cannot be independently moved with respect to the screen part managed by the browser 17. I do.

The browser 17 has a voting control program 16
Two queues (a queue from the browser 17 to the voting control program 16 and a queue from the voting control program 16 to the browser 17) are prepared to establish synchronization with the voting control program 16 and released to the tasks of the voting control program 16. . As for a message transmitted by any event, the content described in the script language is directly queued. Therefore, the content of the message needs to be defined by the voting control program 16.

The browser 17 uses the XML voting program 18
And a voting control program 16 that receives a message from the browser 17
Irrespective of the ML voting program 18 or the browser 17, the part to be displayed on the screen is separated, and these can be linked appropriately.

FIG. 4 is a software configuration diagram mainly showing a data flow in the voting terminal of FIG. The operation of the voting terminal of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 4, when the power is turned on to the voting terminal, first, the voting control program 16 is started, and then the browser 17 is started. The browser 17 is an XML voting program 1 for displaying an election selection screen and other screens.
8 is read and displayed as appropriate. Also, under the control of the voting control program 16, data such as the election number and the candidate number are recorded on the one-voting data memory 20. Then, at the end of one voting, the data is stored in the voting data file 22.

Note that the voting control program 1
The software keyboard 24 is displayed under the control of 6.
Characters input from the keyboard 24 are notified to the browser 17 and further to the voting control program 16 and recorded in the memory 20 together with data such as the election number.

FIG. 6 shows an external selection device 70 connected to the voting terminal of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of FIG. The external selection device 70 is provided with a character display 71 capable of sensing display contents by touching.

This character display 71 has an upper surface in which a large number of pins are densely arranged in a vertical direction and in a matrix, and a specific pin is lifted up from an initial position by a piezoelectric drive or an electromagnetic drive and pops out. This is a tactile pin display (stimulator) using a so-called dot matrix that displays characters and figures by forming characters and figures from a set pattern of pins that have popped out.

The above-described tactile pin display can be configured based on a tactile information output device, which is a known technique configured as information transmission means to a person with a disability, particularly a visually impaired person. According to the above-described known technique, a bimorph tactical stimulator (abbreviated as a stimulator) composed of a plurality of tactile needles arranged in a matrix within an area that can be touched by a finger of an operator is information on characters to be displayed. , So that a visually impaired person can touch braille or normal non-braille character information with a fingertip. For example, Japanese Patent No. 29475
No. 15 discloses this technique. According to the above disclosed technology, it is possible for a visually impaired person to read a sentence or the like expressed by ordinary characters without waiting for Braille. By using this stimulator as an external input device of the electronic voting terminal, the present embodiment intends to greatly reduce the load of the voting operation.

Returning again to the present embodiment, the character display 7
1 above, the first letter of the name of the election is displayed in katakana on the upper surface (display surface), and the voters are the upper limbs (or lower limbs).
By touching the character display 71, the information displayed by the raised pin can be known.

In the present embodiment, only one kana character is displayed on the character display 71, but a "right arrow button" (forward key), which is displayed on the left and right sides of the character display 71 and is displayed as "smooth". By pressing 72 or a "left arrow button" (return key) 73 displayed as "mode", predetermined characters are displayed on the character display 71 sequentially or in reverse order, thereby displaying all of the names of the elections. Can read kana characters.

At this time, when the display is the last or first character of the character string, the display is not changed even if the key 72 for sending characters in the forward direction or the key 73 for sending characters in the reverse direction is pressed. It is configured as follows.

Although it is possible to display hiragana on the character display 71, hiragana has many curves and is difficult to recognize as compared with katakana. Therefore, in this embodiment, katakana is displayed.

By the way, when displaying katakana, for example, "so" and "n" or "tsu" and "shi" have similar patterns, and it is considered that the probability of erroneous recognition is particularly high.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, the timing at which the individual tactile pins constituting the dots of the kana character are raised is not simultaneous, but the character display is performed such that the pin is raised with the time shifted according to the stroke order of the character. 71.

With the above-described configuration, the displayed characters and figures can be easily recognized, and furthermore, erroneous recognition can be prevented and recognition can be performed more reliably, and voting errors can be reduced. That is, in the external selection device 70 connected to the voting terminal of the present embodiment, the kana display of the character guidance means for displaying the voting guidance received from the voting terminal and the voting information of the voter is represented by dots in the stroke order of the characters. Is performed.

The external selection device 70 has various input keys on the upper surface of the housing (exterior), and is provided with telephone-type numeric keys 7.
6 and a correct / incorrect confirmation key 7 for controlling confirmation and cancellation of the vote
4 is provided. For example, among the right / wrong confirmation keys 74, a key has a function of fixing, and a key of x cancels.

As shown in FIG. 5 (a), which is a sectional view of FIG.
Numerals and symbols are engraved on the key tops, which protrude upward from the surface of the housing (exterior) 0, and are the upper surfaces of the keys, and the engraved numbers and symbols are recognized by touching with a finger. can do. The numeric keys 76 and the like may be displayed in Braille, and in that case, it is desirable to display them in a convex manner.

FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view when a key guard 75 is mounted around each of the keys 76 and 74 described above.
The key guard 75 is a configuration for protecting the numbers of the selection device 70 and the upper surfaces of the right / wrong confirmation keys 76 and 74 so as to prevent the fingers or the like from unintentionally touching the keys. Also,
As described above, the external selection device 70 is connected to the voting terminal by wire or wirelessly. In the case of wireless communication, optical wireless communication is desirable from the viewpoint of security.

FIG. 7 shows the external selection device 70 described above.
FIG. 9 is a schematic top view of an external selection device 80 with a Braille keyboard for performing electronic voting separately or in parallel with a voting terminal.

In FIG. 7, a braille display 81 of an external selection device 80 has 32 piezoelectric or electromagnetic tactile pin elements arranged in close contact with each other, and a specific tactile pin is controlled according to control. It is configured to display the election information in Braille by a set pattern of raised tactile pins. The braille display 81 of the present embodiment includes:
It is excellent in that a character string can be displayed not at every character but at a plurality of characters at a time. In addition, by using together with the kana character display 71 described above, the voter may be configured to perform more reliable recognition and voting.

FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are flowcharts for explaining a flow in which a blind and deaf person actually performs voting using the electronic voting system provided with the voting terminal of the present embodiment. In particular, FIG. 8 shows a single-entry candidate election, a restricted list proportional representative election,
FIG. 9 shows the flow of a referendum, and FIG. 9 shows the flow of a ballot for the National Judge of the Supreme Court.

Before explaining the details of the voting with reference to each figure, an outline of the voting method will be described. First, a voter who is blind and deaf goes to a booth with the above-mentioned voting terminal accompanied by an attendant. The voter uses a voting terminal and a key or numeric keypad (numerical key) or the like on which Braille or character embossing is displayed on the upper surface as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 to select candidates for voting for one or more elections. Selection, confirmation, recording (implicitly) in the recording means (memory) included in the voting terminal, and voting are completed.

The flow of voting in the case of single entry candidate election, restricted list proportional representative election or referendum will be described below.

In FIG. 8, at the start of the voting operation, a voting standby screen is displayed on the display 31 of the voting terminal as shown in step S1. The content of the standby screen is not particularly limited, but depending on the type of display, it is possible to make a design with a change based on black for a CRT and white for a liquid crystal display, It is desirable from the viewpoint of power consumption and display protection (burn-in prevention).

Next, the voter arrives at a booth having a voting terminal with a voting card (described later) and inserts the voting card into the voting terminal.

The voting card (not shown) is a magnetic card or an IC card lent by the election manager at the polling place in exchange for a polling place admission ticket issued by the election manager prior to voting. The type of election, the type of voting terminal, and the type of external selection device (for the blind, for the physically handicapped, for the healthy, etc.) are recorded. In order to protect the confidentiality of the voting content, no information that can identify an individual is recorded on the IC card.

The voting terminal reads data from the inserted voting card, authenticates that the voter attribute is blind or deaf by collation on a database of a server provided in the electronic voting system, and confirms the identity of the person. (Step
S3). If the authentication fails, the process returns to the previous voting standby screen step S3.

When the identification is completed, the voting progress screen is displayed, and at the same time, the vibrators 77 and 87 of the external selection devices 70 and 80 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 repeat one short vibration. It vibrates as "..." (step S4). (The description “•” represents one short vibration. The same applies to the following.) Voters who are blind or deaf can identify themselves by sensing the vibration through either the upper limb or the lower limb placed on the vibrator 77, 87. You know that was successful. The voting progress screen is used by an attendant to visually confirm the progress of voting.

When the identification is completed, all the elections recorded on the voting card are executed. In the following, a case will be described in which the types of elections are a single-entry candidate election, a restricted list proportional representative election, and a referendum.
The case of judge national examination will be described later.

As shown in step S4, after the vibrators 77 and 87 vibrate, the name of the election is displayed on the character display 71 and / or the braille display 81. When the voter confirms the name of the election on the character display 71 and / or the Braille display 81, he or she presses the o button of the right / wrong confirmation key 74 shown in FIG. 6 (step S5). When the confirmation is completed, the vibrators 77 and 87 repeat two short vibrations as in step S6, and
The display of the character display 71 and the braille display 81 is erased. In addition, the voting progress screen is updated to a candidate selection screen.

The voter inputs the number of the candidate who wants to vote by pressing the numeric keys 76 and 86 as in step S7. Then, on the character display 71, the numbers of the candidates input immediately before are displayed, and on the braille display 81, the numbers of all the candidates input so far are displayed.

Here, if the voter decides again on the election to vote, it is necessary to confirm that the number has not been entered.
If the key is pressed, voting can be interrupted and return to confirming the election name.

When the voter has entered the numbers of all the candidates who want to vote, he or she presses the confirmation O key and terminates the input (step S9). As shown in step S11, the system determines whether there is a candidate whose number matches the input number. If there is a match,
Repeat the vibrator three times briefly ("...
… ”). And Braille display 8
1, the number and name of the candidate are displayed in the format of "<number><blank><lastname><blank><firstname>". The character display 71 displays the first letter of the same character string. Also, the voting progress screen is updated.

The voter checks the candidates displayed on the braille display 81 and the character display 71. By operating the right arrow key 72 and the left arrow key 73,
The character string displayed on the character display 71 can be moved forward or backward one character at a time (step S1).
2).

When the voter has confirmed the candidates who have voted, he or she presses the o key if it is correct. Then, the voting candidates are printed on the paper by the journal printer and electronically recorded on a recording device provided in the voting terminal. The recorded data is transmitted to an aggregation center (not shown) of the electronic voting system via the network. When the transmission is completed, the displays on the braille display 81 and the character display 71 are erased (step S14).

On the other hand, if the candidate input by the voter is not correct, pressing the X key causes the step S
6 can be returned. When the confirmation of the correct voting is completed and the ○ key is pressed, the vibrator repeatedly vibrates four times in a short time as “··············”. Then, a guide sound saying “Please remove the card” is played from the speaker. The vibration and the sound are repeated until the voter or attendant removes the voting card from the terminal (step S15).

When the voter or attendant removes the voting card, the vibration and the guide sound are stopped, and the voting terminal returns to the initial standby screen display (step S17). This completes the voting.

Next, with reference to FIG. 9, a procedure and the like for a case where a judge of the judge of the Supreme Court judges a nation by using the electronic voting system including the voting terminal of this embodiment will be described.

The procedure up to the point where the voter inserts the voting card and confirms the identity and confirms the name of the election is the same as the procedure according to FIG. 8 described above (steps T1 to T6). Next, the voter presses the key of the number of the judge to be dismissed (step T7). The national examination is conducted on nine of the 15 judges in the Supreme Court, so the number is a single digit.

The voter inputs the numbers of all judges who want to be dismissed. The system performs the following processing every time one judge is input.

That is, the system determines whether there is a judge whose number matches the input number (step T8). If there is no matching judge, vibrate the vibrator long “−−” and go to step T7.
Return to The description "-" means one long vibration.

If there is a judge who matches the number input by the voter, it is further determined whether or not the judge has been selected (step T9). If not already selected,
The braille display 81 displays a string of numbers of the judge selected so far. The character display 71 displays the number of the recently added judge among the selected judges (step T10).

The voter presses the right arrow keys 72 and 82 and / or the left arrow keys 73 and 83 to confirm the entered number. The system displays the next or previous selected judge's number (blank if not present) for this press.

On the other hand, if the judge has already been selected, the judge cancels the selection. At the same time, the display on the braille display 81 is updated, and if the display on the character display 71 is the input number, the number of another judge selected so far (or blank if not previously selected) is displayed ( Step T91).

Note that the voter can press the X key in a state where a number has been entered in order to clear the selection of all judges. In this case, the system clears the selection, and the braille display 81 and the character display 71
Both display are erased. When the voter has input the numbers of all judges who want to be dismissed, the user presses the o key to terminate the input of the numbers (step T11).

When the キ ー key is pressed, the vibrator repeatedly vibrates three times (“...”) Three times. Then, the number / name of the judge first selected on the braille display 81 is displayed as “<number><blank><lastname><blank>
<Name> ”format.

On the character display 71, the numbers and names of all the selected judges are displayed as "<number><blank><lastname><
Blank><firstname>,<number><blank><lastname><blank><firstname>
... ”Is displayed. Then, the voting progress screen is also updated (step T1).
2). The voter confirms the displayed judge's nomination.
By pressing the right arrow keys 72 and 82 and / or the left arrow keys 73 and 83, the name displayed on the braille display 81 can be moved forward or backward by one line. Further, the characters of the name displayed on the character display 71 can be moved forward or backward one character at a time (step T13).

When the voter has completed checking the candidates who have voted, he presses the ○ key if correct (step T14).
Then, the voting candidates are printed on the paper by the journal printer and electronically recorded on a recording device provided in the voting terminal. The data recorded in the recording device is transmitted via a network to an aggregation center (not shown) of the electronic voting system. When the transmission is completed, the displays on the braille display 81 and the character display 71 are erased (step T1).
5)).

On the other hand, if the candidate input by the voter is not correct, pressing the X key will
It is possible to return to the state of T6.

When the confirmation of the correct voting is completed and the ○ key is pressed, the vibrator repeatedly repeats “4 times”.
・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ”. Then, a guide sound saying “Please remove the card” is played from the speaker. The vibration and the sound are repeated until the voter or attendant removes the voting card from the terminal (step T16).

When the voter or attendant removes the voting card, the vibration and the guide voice are stopped, and the voting terminal returns to the initial standby screen display (step T18). This completes the judge national review procedure.

The voting terminal according to the present embodiment has the following specific effects. That is, the external selection device 70,
Having 80 has the effect that voting can be performed easily, and even if the electorate is blind or deaf, the electoral information and voting information can be transmitted by displaying Braille and Kana characters to the electorate. Since a suitable input means can be used, there is an effect that a fair voting environment can be provided to voters. In addition, by adding a wireless communication function for transmitting and receiving data to and from the voting terminal by the external selection devices 70 and 80, there is also an effect that the degree of freedom of installation is improved regardless of the location where the device is located at a short distance.

[0081]

As described in detail above, the present invention can be touched and recognized in an electronic voting apparatus provided with a selecting means for electronically selecting a specific candidate to be voted from a plurality of candidates. A plurality of selection keys provided on a selection means, which has a display portion on the surface of which a sign is displayed by an uneven shape and performs selection by pressing, and a plurality of pin members arranged in the same direction. By projecting only a pin member of a specific combination from the above, information for associating a code with a plurality of candidates is provided with display means for displaying the information in a touchable and recognizable manner, so that the Promote digitization in voting and tallying work, so that even if multiple elections are held at the same time, it can be executed without error, and voters who are physically disabled can easily vote, Voters to be able to provide an excellent electronic voting equipment to fair operability and reliability of the Te.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a voting terminal as an example according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the voting terminal of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of software describing a program executed by the voting terminal of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a software configuration diagram mainly showing a data flow in the voting terminal of FIG. 1;

5 is a cross-sectional view of a key connected to the voting terminal of FIG. 1 and provided in an external selection device that performs electronic voting mainly by a person who is blind and deaf.

6 is a schematic top view of an external selection device connected to the voting terminal of FIG. 1 and mainly used by persons who are blind or deaf to perform electronic voting.

7 is a schematic top view of an external selection device with a Braille keyboard for performing electronic voting separately from or in parallel with the external selection device 70 of FIG. 6 and connected to the voting terminal of FIG. 1; FIG.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a flow in which a blind and deaf person actually performs voting using the electronic voting system including the voting terminal of FIG.

9 is a flowchart illustrating a flow in which a blind and deaf person actually performs voting using the electronic voting system including the voting terminal of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

70, 80 External selection device (selection means) 71, 81 Character display, Braille display (display means) 74, 76 Numeric keys, right / wrong confirmation key (selection key) 77, 87 Vibrator (vibration means)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Toshiro Kono 3-12-12 Moriyacho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Japan Victor Company of Japan (72) Inventor Tadashi Aizawa 3-12 Moriyacho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Address: Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (72) Yoshiya Yokochi, Inventor Ryoya Yokochi 3-chome, Moriyacho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture12-12 Japan Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (72) Ryo Saito, Moriyacho, Kanagawa-ku, Kanagawa Prefecture No. 12 Inside Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (72) Inventor Haruo Matsuo 3-chome Moriyacho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture 12-chome Japan Victor Company of Japan, Limited (72) Inventor Taiji Sato 3-chome Moriyacho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Eye No.12 Japan Victor Company of Japan, F term (reference) 3E038 KA01 5B020 BB00 GG05

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An electronic voting apparatus comprising a selecting means for electronically selecting a specific candidate to be voted from among a plurality of candidates, a display in which a code is displayed in a concave and convex shape so that the candidate can be recognized by touching. A plurality of selection keys provided on the selection means, having a portion on the surface and performing the selection by pressing, and only a pin member of a specific combination from a large number of pin members arranged in the same direction. An electronic voting apparatus comprising: display means for displaying information for associating the code with the plurality of candidates by touching and recognizing the candidate by touching the code. 2. An electronic voting apparatus comprising a selecting means for electronically selecting a specific item to be voted from among a plurality of items. A plurality of selection keys provided on the selection means, which are provided on the surface and perform the selection by pressing, and protruding only pin members of a specific combination from a large number of pin members arranged in the same direction. An electronic voting apparatus comprising: display means for displaying information for associating the code with the plurality of items so that the information can be touched and recognized. 3. The display means displays characters by protruding only the pin members of the specific combination, and displays only the pin members corresponding to a specific portion of the character which sequentially changes according to the stroke order of the characters. 3. The electronic voting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic voting apparatus is configured to sequentially protrude. 4. A display device according to claim 1, wherein the display portion of the selection key displays Braille, and the display means displays the Braille by protruding only the specific pin member. The electronic voting apparatus according to claim 1. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a vibrating means which vibrates according to a predetermined sequence corresponding to a selection operation using said selecting means and is capable of sensing said vibration by touching. 4. The electronic voting device according to 4.