NL1019945C2 - Dynamic user interface for voting systems. - Google Patents

Description

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Dynamic user interface for voting systems.

The invention relates to a dynamic user interface for a voting system with which it is possible to select representatives or candidates for, for example, the House of Representatives, the Provincial States, or the City Council. In this context, dynamically means that with the aid of this system, candidates from several electoral districts can be voted on on one user interface, the composition of the lists varying per electoral district.

The applicant has previously registered and obtained Dutch patent number 1014538 for such a user interface, but this application related to a so-called full-face election system in which the complete overview of all lists of all candidates per list is shown in one go on a display , so that the voter can directly choose the desired candidate.

Because standard equipment in the form of a computer screen is preferably used for election systems, also because remote elections such as, for example, via the internet are also within reach, it is important to provide a simple user interface for this equipment, that preferably such a has a close relationship with the familiar user interface of the 30 current voting machines.

Because a computer screen is too small to contain all the information printed on a standard print sheet sufficiently legible, a stepped method is often applied for such systems, on which the lists or parties are shown on a first screen 35 from which the voter must make a choice and then on a second screen all candidates from the chosen list or party, 1 0 '; -2- from which the voter must again make a choice, after which the whole must be confirmed by a voting button.

This method is less straightforward for voters 5 and, as practical tests show, costs considerably more time, which means that more voting systems per polling station are required for this.

The present invention has for its object to provide a solution to this problem and will be described in the following on the basis of six figures relating as an example to the Lower House elections of 3 May 1994 in Maastricht.

Figure 1 shows the first screen of the user interface according to the invention.

Figure 2 shows the same screen after a candidate has been selected.

Figure 3 shows the first screen in an enlarged form for the visually impaired.

Figure 4 shows the enlarged screen after a candidate has been selected.

Figure 5 shows the first screen in a shifted situation.

Figure 6 shows the screen on which all candidates of one selected party are shown.

In order to achieve a rapid flow through the polling stations, the user interface according to the invention is based on a mixture between direct and step-by-step dialing. The screen consists of a so-called touch screen or touch screen, whereby by touching with the finger a choice can be made immediately using the displayed buttons on the screen. The operation can of course also take place with the aid of a normal computer screen and a computer mouse, but this is less suitable for use in a polling station because it takes more time. On the first screen, the ballot paper of the electoral district that applies to a voter in question with, as shown in Figure 1, the following groups of buttons is displayed: to a larger view for the visually impaired, two arrow buttons to move the displayed lists to the left or right and two arrow buttons to move the displayed candidates on the lists up or down; - In the second row a string of all lists or political parties that is continued on the right side over the height of the rest of the screen and occupies as many vertical columns as are necessary to display all lists on this first screen to give; - Among the lists whose vertical columns have not been occupied by further lists, a vertical string of the candidates for these relevant lists is displayed starting with the highest placed candidate on the list and further as far as there is room and candidates for the relevant lists list are present.

It appears from election practice that by far the largest group of voters votes for a candidate who is shown on the first screen in this way and this group of voters can suffice with the finger of pointing the button in the same way as with a full-face machine of the candidate concerned, after which the screen changes to the situation in figure 2, on which an example of a vote is given to Mrs. Jorritsma of the VVD is indicated. Both the button with the text of the candidate and the button of the list or party are highlighted and the text of the selected candidate is displayed in the middle between the top row of control buttons.

30 From this situation, the vote can be confirmed by touching the "Vote" button or by returning to the previous situation via the "Reset" button if a mistake has been made.

To clarify the function of the different buttons or groups of buttons, different colors are used for this in the user interface according to the invention.

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If the candidate on which the voter wants to vote is not directly displayed on the first screen, the voter can use the arrow buttons to move the string with lists or the string with candidates so that other lists and / or other candidates become visible .

If the "Large" button is touched at the first screen, this screen changes to the situation of Figure 3, where all 10 lists or parties are again displayed in the form of a string according to the same structure and a string in the remaining columns of candidates from the relevant lists in a format that is approximately 25% larger and therefore easier to read for visually impaired voters. Figure 4 shows in this situation the enlarged situation of the exemplary choice of figure 2. The "Small" button can be used to return to the original image scale.

When the lists or parties are shifted to the left-hand side of the screen, as indicated in Figure 5, the columns calculated from the left-hand side are filled in the same way as on the first screen on the right-hand side, so that at all times all lists or parties are filled are displayed on the screen and together they form a string.

25 If first a button of a list or party is operated, for example a list whose candidates are not shown on the first screen or a list of which only a part of the candidates is shown, then the VVD list appears as an example , the screen of figure 6. In this situation, all candidates from the selected list or party are also shown in a contiguous string to the extent that space is available for this on the screen. With the image scale "Small", all candidates can be shown here, with the image scale "Large", slightly more than half the maximum number allowed. In the latter situation, a down arrow key appears again to be able to see the second part of the S "-5 list and, conversely, an up arrow key to return to the first part of the relevant list.

With the button lists you can return to the first screen with the combination of lists or parties and candidates according to figure 1.

With the dynamic user interface according to the invention, in addition to the possibility of remote selection, whereby different ballot papers can apply to different voters, different elections or referendums can of course also be handled one after the other for each voter, so that no additional user interfaces are required for this.

Of course, the user interface according to the invention can also be used for a complete two-stage system in which, first and foremost, only all parties without candidates are shown and only then all candidates from one selected party.

Claims (11)

1. A dynamic user interface for voting systems, characterized in that this user interface is based on a standard computer screen and, in case there are more lists or parties and candidates than can be displayed on one screen in a sufficiently readable manner, on a mixture of direct and step-by-step selection, whereby on 10 the first screen is offered to the voter, apart from a blank vote and a number of screen control functions, a choice from a limited number of candidates from a limited number of lists together with a choice from all other lists, of which 15 on this first screen no candidates are displayed. 2. A dynamic user interface for voting systems according to claim 1, characterized in that, depending on the constituency of the voter concerned, a selection option can be offered from different lists or parties with different candidates for these lists or parties. 3. A dynamic user interface for voting systems according to one or both of the preceding claims, characterized in that the screen consists of a so-called touchscreen or touch screen with which the voter can make a choice by touching one of the buttons displayed on the screen to the system. 30 A dynamic user interface for voting systems according to one or more preceding claim (s), characterized in that the lists or parties are displayed together on the screen in the form of a string of buttons 35 which is always shown in its entirety. f o; . o --- O -7- A dynamic user interface for voting systems according to one or more preceding claim (s), characterized in that the candidates per list or lot are displayed together in the form of a, for example 5 vertical, string of buttons also connected to the relevant list or party. 6. A dynamic user interface for voting systems according to one or more preceding claim (s), characterized in that when choosing one of the lists or parties, candidates or candidates not shown on the first screen, a second screen appears on which the list or lot selected on the first screen is displayed together with a string of all candidates of this list or lot. 7. A dynamic user interface for voting systems according to one or more preceding claim (s), characterized in that one of the screen control buttons has the function that the screen in question for visually impaired people is displayed in an enlarged format and that the corresponding screen control button is displayed in the enlarged format the function has to return to the original format. 25 8. A dynamic user interface for voting systems according to one or more preceding claim (s), characterized in that two of the screen control buttons have the function that candidates placed higher or lower on the visible lists or parties and that two other control buttons display the function of displaying candidates from higher or lower-numbered non-visible lists or parties. -8- 9. A dynamic user interface for voting systems according to one or more preceding claim (s), characterized in that before the vote is confirmed by means of the designated control button the displayed button of a selected candidate, possibly together with the displayed button of the list whether the party to which the candidate in question belongs is highlighted in relation to the other candidates and lists or parties. 10 10. A dynamic user interface for voting systems according to one or more preceding claim (s), characterized in that before the vote is confirmed by means of the control button provided for this purpose, the personal details of the selected candidate may be present together with the name of the list or party to which the relevant candidate belongs enlarged is displayed in a dedicated screen field between or next to the screen control buttons. 20 A dynamic user interface for voting systems according to one or more preceding claim (s), characterized in that only parties and no candidates are shown on the first screen. d> o