WO2006088736A1

WO2006088736A1 - Voting and voter registration system

Info

Publication number: WO2006088736A1
Application number: PCT/US2006/004773
Authority: WO
Original assignee: Kakaire, James
Priority date: 2005-02-14
Filing date: 2006-02-10
Publication date: 2006-08-24

Abstract

A voting and voter registration system (VVRS) provides voters with a range of polling accessibility by allowing them to register online, to vote from their homes, offices, or public libraries using regular browser computers, and to vote from polling stations with either touch screen or browser based computers. Data from the Internet-based computers (1) and local precincts (5) is all directed to database management systems (4) that are resident at either the precinct or regional level. This allows online voting and polling station voting to co-exist. The system permits any one or more of three protocols: a) Internet voter registration, b) Internet-based voting, and c) touch screen technology at polling stations. Where permitted, voters may also use devices other than computers, such as cell phones or PDA's, to log into secure servers and vote.

Description

VOTING AND VOTER REGISTRATION SYSTEM

Related Application:

The present patent application is a continuation-in-part of United States patent application serial no. 11/056,373, filed February 14, 2005, the priority of which is hereby claimed.

Field of the Invention:

The present invention relates to voter registration and voting and, more particularly, to automated voter registration that may use a worldwide communications network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Voting has previously been conducted using paper and electronic machinery that could easily confuse users and not provide needed information, such as accurate recounts, in case complaints arise. In the United States 2004 elections, some states improved the voting machines by applying touch screen technology but recounts were still not accurate, machines were slow and could not be relied upon to determine eligible voters.

Voting by telephone is an unsatisfactory option. Voters without phones may have problems getting identified by the system. Other voters may want to vote more than once and can use public phones to accomplish that mission.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventive system readily provides vote counts and recounts with one hundred percent accuracy. The number of voters that voted, number of each candidate's votes and number of registered voters that did not vote represents all registered voters .

The system verifies eligibility to vote by cross checking with the department of motor vehicle driver/non driver records or records from other offices used to track voter eligibility. Verification takes place during voter registration.

The system ensures that each voter votes once and not multiple times. Since every voter creates only one record based on voter identification, that record stores candidates' IDs by title so each title is recorded only once.

The system also provides voter privacy. Only the voter sees whom he votes for at the polling station. This information is displayed on screen with a curtain behind the voter. If voted in error, an option is given to the voter to revote before submitting the electronic ballot.

The system ensures security by storing sensitive data in encrypted format and limiting access to only those election officials who are given access in a certain order. Polling station supervisors are given read only access. That is, supervisors may read results but cannot change data in the system. For example, official B may log on only when official A is not available. Official C can log on only when officials A and B are not available. Any activity or records viewed by the authorized officials is recorded in the database and can be presented at a later time. Data is cleared from the voter servers after all parties are satisfied.

The system performs real time computations that return results instantaneously. Voter servers are distributed at the regional or precinct level, eliminating overloading of the servers that could take place if all votes were directed to one central location. In the future, however, with better data transmission methods, all data may be directed to one central location at a state or provincial level. Absentee voters can vote from their present location in real time. Ballots are sent to their home town precincts, or county- main offices, state, district or provincial headquarters via dialup, broadband or wireless connection. As in online money transactions, data is secured to prevent hacking.

In addition to touch screen machines at polling stations, the system enables people to vote from their homes, offices and public libraries by browser-based computer. Data is encrypted to ensure maximum security. Citizens abroad may also vote online in real time. In order for one to vote online, two forms of ID may be required. A driver/non driver license number may be required in addition to the last four digits of a social security, national ID, passport or voter number. A dropdown menu may be added for acceptable forms of identification.

Internet voting and Internet registration gives people without computers an opportunity to register and vote from public libraries. Where permitted, voters may also use devices other than computers to log into secure servers. These devices may be cell phones or the like.

Due to the few steps taken to vote and the distribution of databases onto more than one server, the system is fast and creates no lines at physical polling stations.

The system readily provides different kinds of statistics based on data input during registration and polling results. Data such as date of birth, gender, etc can graphically be analyzed to provide vital information regarding elections and the policies of the candidates.

Since online voter registration is directed to the office responsible for voter eligibility verification or the department of motor vehicles of the state, district or province where the voter resides, the amount of data entry that office employees have to perform is greatly reduced. The system also reduces the volume of paper and time spent on the voting process, cutting overall cost. Online registration minimizes loss of voter registration forms and encourages more voters to register easily.

In cases where states or countries currently use touch screen machines, this system will allow smooth transformation to all internet voting without changing the design thereof. It allows both browser-based and touch screen technologies to coexist. With time, all Internet voting will be inexpensive because people will use their own computer, sending data to designated regional offices. This will save governments money. There may be no need for touch screen computers when it comes to Internet voting. Regional offices will have a predetermined number of servers (preferably clustered) to receive data from all users in that region. Voters without computers may use public libraries to register and vote. If necessary, browser-based computers may be placed in other locations in the form of polling stations .

The voting and voter registration system (WRS) allows both touch screen technology and browser technology to co-exist, giving a smooth transformation to all-Internet voting. The system has three components that can be implemented independently or simultaneously: a) Internet voter registration; b) Internet- based voting,- and c) the touch screen technology at polling stations. Polling stations may have browser-based computers instead of touch screen, or both.

Both voting systems, Internet and non-Internet, are based on a database management system in the background (preferably relational) , which database is a subsystem of a voter registration database. Distribution of mini servers to various locations can allow the system to operate at a high processing speed so that less time is spent on the voting process.

The system ensures voter privacy and data security. The system handles absentee ballots as well. Internet-based voting reduces lines at the voting stations and makes the process fast, convenient, _.and more accessible. The system provides easy access to all voters. Where permitted, voters may also use devices other than computers to log into secure servers and vote. These devices may be cell phones or other in that category.

Online voter registration minimizes lose of voter registration forms, encourages more voters to register, reduces the volume of paper handled by elections offices and reduces the amount of data entry done by elections offices hence cuts spending .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawing, when taken in conjunction with the detail description thereof and in which:

Figure 1 shows a voter registration flowchart;

Figure 2 shows a registration form filled out by a user registering from a website;

Figure 3 shows voter registration both from the Internet and from an office terminal, data being channeled to DMV driver/non driver database or some other office database for citizenship verification and then stored on the voter server/database,-

Figure 4 shows Entity - Rational diagrams for the database;

Figure 5 is a flow chart for voting both from a polling station and the Internet;

Figure 6 shows a polling station with touch screen computers and a server locally situated;

Figure 7 shows a polling station with touch screen computers with a server located at a centralized location,- and

Figure 8 shows the results table "votesFor" with sample data, generated from two tables: voters and candidates. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The inventive WRS system is designed to enable people to vote in a timely manner and without fear that their ballot will not be tallied. Although public governmental elections are described hereinbelow, it should be understood that semi-public and private membership organizations, both for profit and not for profit, are intended to be included within the meaning of the words precinct, state, region, etc. Moreover, the term voters is intended to include citizens as well as all other voters including, but not limited to members, shareholders, partners, consultants and associates. Prior to the voting day, data comprising all registered voters, candidates' data, polling administrators' data and any other desired data are replicated onto a predetermined number of servers for the election' s use at the precinct or regional level.

Referring now to Figure 3, a computer 1 is provided for use by a voter to register from the Internet. It should be understood that any device having a processor can be used for this function, including but not limited to a PDA, a cell phone, a touch screen machine, and any other intelligent device. Another computer 2 is used by a government employee to register voters. A server 3 is provided for the use of the department of motor vehicles or other government office for verifying voters' eligibility to vote. A voter registration database server 4 is also provided. A voter may connect through a web server to the database server 4. A mini database server 5 is provided to which data is replicated before election day. This is the server 5 used at precincts or regional offices. At county or for larger regions, however, servers may be clustered due to the increased number of concurrent connections. More than one server 5 may be used. A computer 6 (Figure 6) is provided for use by a polling station supervisor. Computer 6 may have a printer attached, not shown. A touch screen computer 7 is provided for use by voters to cast ballots at the polling stations. Privacy curtains 8 are also provided. In this system, voters have three options for voting: go to a home town or precinct polling station and vote using touch screen or browser based machines; go to any polling station in the country and vote using a designated machine (touch screen computer or regular computer with a browser) ; or use the Internet to vote from any location via a web browser. The latter option also helps voters located in different countries vote in real time, speeding up the overall process.

The system guarantees security by storing sensitive data in encrypted format. Read access is limited to very few elections officials that may be granted access in a certain order. That is, official B logs on only when official A is not available. Official C logs on only when officials A and B are not available.

When any of these administrators log in, the system records their identity and what they view in the system. This information is recorded in the table views (Figure 4) and can be presented whenever needed.

After voting, the candidate ID is placed in a record created by the voter (Figure 8) . If voted in error, an option is given to revote before submitting to save. The voter gets acknowledgement of whom he voted for and cannot vote again for that elected position. Interaction is instantaneous because the database is resident at the polling station or regional level depending on the option implemented.

Votes are flushed out of system after all candidates or an election committee are satisfied.

A relational database management system (RDBMS) is preferred to other types of databases for the reason that RDBMS interacts with most Internet programming languages and is widely used by developers. An example of an RDBMS is MySQL which works well with PHP, Perl and Java. However, databases such as Oracle, Sybase, DB2 etc. may be used based on existing hardware/databases currently in use by governments. The system is based on a database management system so it can readily provide statistics of voter age and gender in relation to candidates, times when people vote most and all other statistics that may be needed, while still affording privacy and anonymity to the voters.

The election board determines what kind of access to give to board employees. The system performs real time computation, returning results instantaneously. Data is cleared from the servers after all parties are satisfied.

The table administrator is used to authenticate polling administrators. That is, the table administrator logs administrators into the system and allows them to have read access. If logged on, the session variables store user IDs. User IDs are then recorded in the log table (Views) and a time stamp is applied.

The table voters stores voter information and the table candidates store candidates' information.

The table "votesFor" records all votes from voters. Each voter creates only one record for each title. This single file keeps a record of the candidate the voter votes for.

If a voter votes for two candidates in different positions such as president and senator, IDs of those candidates appear next to the voter ID, as in Figure 8. However, one may vote for president and not the other candidates, so the voter appears only once and only one candidate's ID president appears next to the voter's ID (Figure 8). Reports are automatically generated from SQL queries that may be embedded in another programming language. Reports may include:

1) Count of registered voters (from table voters)

2) Count of people that voted in all (from table votesFor)

3) Count of people that are registered but did not vote (from tables voters/votesFor) 4) Count of votes for each candidate (from the results table votesFor)

5) Count of candidates not voted for (from the results table votesFor)

6) Count of those that voted for president but did not vote for other candidates

7) Count of those that voted for other candidates but not for president

The sum of all the foregoing counts equals 100% of registered voters. These computed results include count and recounts.

If a list of voter IDs that voted and for whom they voted is needed, it can be generated from the database. This can be done by showing only voter numbers sequentially alongside candidates they voted for. The table is sorted by voter ID or voting time before producing the list.

If a voter selects a presidential candidate and the candidate is candidate 1, the system places a pi in the field for president in the record created by the voter (Figure 8) .

The table votesFor has a composite primary key comprising voter 'ID and candidate ID.

Table "views" logs access to voter-created records by polling administrators. It shows what administrators viewed and at what time. A dropdown menu may be added to show administrator IDs to select from.

A server is designated for voter registration and loaded with a database management system. This database is linked to a different database that could be the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) driver/non driver database, for example, only for verification purposes (Figure 3) . Anyone who registers online must be in the DMV records or citizen verification database.

A website based on a database management system authenticates voters to register. Some of registrant's data is transmitted to a driver/non driver database or other database to verify voter eligibility to vote. On verification, data is saved in the voter registration database (Figure 3) . The registrant gets acknowledgement of registration. This system drastically reduces the amount of data entry elections offices have to do.

It also reduces the volume of paper and time spent on the voting process, hence cutting cost overall.

Online registration minimizes the chance of loss of voter registration forms and encourages more voters to register easily.

Internet registration and voting gives people without computers an opportunity to register and vote from public libraries .

Registration over a secure Internet connection using browsers (Figures 1 and 2) simplifies the registration process. The registration page (Figure 2) is based on the New York State requirements but can be adjusted to suit all states, countries, and other membership organizations.

Like secure money transactions conducted on the internet today, voters may log onto a voter website and register, or may do so from election offices (Figure 3) . Voters get a receipt of their registration and, if necessary, print or save it to their computer. If need be, the system may generate a voter registration receipt and send it to the voter's e-mail address.

The web interface shown in (Figure 2) is to be developed for user data entry into the voter registration database. That interface maps onto the registration database field by field. Alternatively, existing DMV databases may continue to be used in the same way and then applied to a web based interface to interact with voters and allow voters to register online. In addition, data entry can be used directly from computer terminals in the voter registration offices.

Internet voting constitutes the use of browser based computers on the Internet to vote. Other devices such as cell phones and PDAs may also be used as long as they connect to secure servers .

A browser interacts with a database system obtained by extracting voter information from the voter registration database onto different servers. Alternatively, voters can vote directly into the registration servers. In the latter, votes are flushed out after elections are over, but voter registration data is maintained. Flushing specific data is accomplished by an update SQL query embedded in a programming language such as PHP, Java or Perl.

Depending on data transmission methods and the number of concurrent connections a server can hold, voter data is either directed to specific servers based on geographical locations of voter residence, or sent to clustered servers regardless of residence .

Voters launch the main voter website and get into the link mapped to their specific regional voter database. Voters log onto the site using their voter ID and an additional ID such as driver/non driver license number.

With a browser-based graphical interface, the system authenticates voters, and allows data entry into a server on a secure connection. The voter votes for one or more candidates. The system checks if voter has voted for a particular position. If not, the system updates the results of candidates' tally or else gives an error message.

If a voter happens to forget his or her voter ID, they can retrieve it from a website by entering personal information. Phone numbers for polling stations are also provided on the website . The system allows for coexistence of Internet-based voting with touch screen voting systems and hence enables smooth transformation to all-Internet voting.

The system also allows absentee voters to vote in real time from their present location by means of a computer designated at every polling station for absentee voters. This computer connects to the Internet and transmits the encrypted ballot data to the voter home town precinct or regional server.

Prior to the voting day, data is migrated from the voter registration database to portable compact servers that are used at the polling stations or regional offices (Figures. 6 and 7) .

Portable servers loaded with data extracted from voter registration servers are distributed to precincts or regional offices to receive votes from both browser and touch screen computers at local precincts .

To maximize performance, the voter database has two parts, A and B, that are identical except for names. Database B is designated to take online votes, whereas database A takes votes from computers located at polling stations. However, to minimize cost, both databases may reside on the same server.

Database A contains all names of voters in a region or precinct and so does database B which is a replica of database A. The difference is that the copy database B is designated for remote voters only for speed and accuracy.

In operation, voter touches a button on a touch screen machine and activates the voting process (Figures 5 and 6) . The voter is prompted to enter an identification number provided during voter registration. This number is available at the polling station and can also be obtained via the Internet after entering personal information. Similarly, with a browser computer, a voter is prompted for his voter ID. All votes are recorded in a database and references are available to cross check by voter ID or any other format. Privacy is provided. Only the voter sees whom he votes for by reading information displayed on the screen. The computers at polling stations are surrounded by curtains (Figures 6 and 7) . A timestamp marks when every voter votes. Votes are combined periodically by means of a batch schedule to give final results. At any instant, polling supervisors are able to retrieve current results by an update SQL query.

At the end of voting, results tables in both databases are sorted by voter ID and compared to ensure that no voter ID appears in both online and precinct based voter database. That is, no voter may vote by both means, so only one vote counts. This minimizes traffic, speeds up the process, separates Internet voters from polling station voters and ensures accuracy.

The polling station component eventually transforms to all- Internet voting without changing anything in the design. AlI- Internet voting is cost effective for governments and other organizations (e.g., corporations, unions, social or service clubs, etc.) because people use their own computers sending data to regional servers .

There is no need for touch screen computers when it comes to this stage. Regional offices need only a few clustered servers to receive data from all users in a region. In addition to public libraries, a few polling stations can be established as well with regular browser-based computers for people with no computer access.

Given the availability of touch screen technology on the market and small servers today, the system may be implemented within less than six months.

Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the examples chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims .

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A system for facilitating voter registration using a worldwide communications network, comprising:

a) a voter registration database server (4) for permitting voters to register from a worldwide communications network;

b) means for an election official to register voters

(2) , said means to register voters being operatively connected to said voter registration database server;

c) means for storing a database of information (3) for verifying eligibility of said voter to vote, said means for storing being operatively connected to said voter registration database server; and

d) an electronic device (1) operatively connected to said voter registration database server for said voter to register to vote.

2. The system for facilitating voter registration using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 1, wherein said electronic devices comprises a personal computer located at one of the group: voter's residence, library, school, corporate facility, union hall, house of representatives, church, social club, and hotel.

3. The system for facilitating voter registration using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a plurality of mini database servers (5) operatively connected to, and in communications with, said voter registration database server for storing information representative of voters and attributes thereof.

4. The system for facilitating voter registration using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 3 , wherein at least one of said plurality of mini database servers receives data from said voter registration database server.

5. The system for facilitating voter registration using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 1, wherein said components of said system are in communicative relationship with said voter registration database server by at least one of the group: Internet connection, wireless connection, dial-up connection, satellite connection, direct electric line connection, and cable connection.

6. The system for facilitating voter registration using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

e) at least one voting input device (7) operatively connected to at least one of said plurality of mini database servers for use by a voter to vote for a candidate in an election, whereby a voter may vote at a physical polling station.

7. The system for facilitating voter registration using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 6, further comprising:

f) means for a polling station supervisor (6) to monitor activities performed on at least one of said mini database servers, said means for a polling station supervisor being operatively connected to at least one of said plurality of mini database servers.

8. The system for facilitating voter registration using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 6, wherein at least one of said voting input devices comprises at least one of a touch screen terminal and a browser.

9. The system for facilitating voter registration using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 7, wherein said means for a polling station supervisor comprises an electronic device, and wherein said electronic device further comprises a printer operatively connected thereto.

10. The system for facilitating voter registration using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for storing a database of information is integral with said voter registration database server.

11. A system for facilitating voter registration and voting using a worldwide communications network, comprising:

a) a voter registration database server for permitting voters to register from a worldwide communications network;

b) means for storing a database of information for verifying eligibility of said voter to vote, said means for storing being operatively connected to said voter registration database server; and

c) an input device operatively connected to said voter registration database server for said voter to register to vote.

12. The system for facilitating voter registration and voting using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 11, wherein said input devices comprises a personal computer located at one of the group: voter's residence, library, school, corporate facility, union hall, house of representatives, church, social club, and hotel.

13. The system for facilitating voter registration and voting using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 11, wherein said components of said system are in communicative relationship with said voter registration database server by at least one of the group: Internet connection, wireless connection, dial-up connection, satellite connection, direct electric line connection, and cable connection.

14. The system for facilitating voter registration and voting using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 11, further comprising:

d) a plurality of mini database servers operatively connected to, and in communications with, said voter registration database server for storing information representative of voters and attributes thereof; and

e) at least one voting input device operatively connected to at least one of said plurality of mini database servers for use by a voter to vote for a candidate in an election, whereby a voter may vote at a physical polling station.

15. The system for facilitating voter registration and voting using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 14, further comprising:

f) means for a polling station supervisor to monitor activities performed on at least one of said mini database servers, said means for a polling station supervisor being operatively connected to at least one of said plurality of mini database servers .

16. The system for facilitating voter registration using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 14, wherein at least one of said voting input devices comprises at least one of: a touch screen terminal and a browser.

17. The system for facilitating voter registration and voting using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 15, wherein said means for a polling station supervisor comprises an electronic device, and wherein said electronic device further comprises a printer operatively connected thereto .

18. A method for facilitating voter registration and voting using a worldwide communications network, the steps comprising:

a) providing a voter registration database server for permitting voters to register from a worldwide communications network;

b) providing means for storing a database of information for verifying eligibility of said voter to vote, said means for storing being operatively connected to said voter registration database server;

c) accepting a voter's registration information from an electronic device; and

d) verifying eligibility of said voter to vote.

19. The method for facilitating voter registration and voting using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 18, the steps further comprising:

e) accepting a voter's vote.

20. The method for facilitating voter registration and voting using a worldwide communications network in accordance with claim 19, the steps further comprising:

f) providing a plurality of mini database servers operatively connected to, and in communications with, said voter registration database server for storing information representative of voters and attributes thereof.