Greetings:
 
The subject of printing serial numbers on ballots has 
reared its' head again.  BELOW is what was discussed 
before.  El Paso County, TX, who is going county wide, and uses the BOD 
printer exclusively has again requested this function be added to GEMS.  
Norfolk, Va is also requesting this function to the BOD 
printer.
 
How should I respond?  Can I give them a time 
frame? Thanks.
 
Rodney D. Turner
Diebold Election Systems
214-642-6289
 
 
 
Tab, I hope these 
answers help you.  If not, please give me a call.
 
  - Does this not violate voter secrecy? Some states have legislation that 
  prohibits any identifying mark on the ballot that would allow someone to 
  identify the voter who cast the ballot. 
 
No, in Texas they 
track their ballots by putting serial numbers on them (Texas Election Code 
52.062).  They have something that is called a ballot-register that 
they must keep, so they know where their ballots went and how 
many.  
    
2.    If we were to implement the 'automatic' incrementing 
of serial numbers, how about ballots that do not print correctly? Can we just 
ignore this problem and have 'missing' serial numbers. 
 
NO.. we 
would have to have a way to reprint the ballot with the correct serial 
number.
 
    
3.    What kind of audit logging to they want, if 
any?
 
No audit 
log needed....
 
    4.    Is printing the serial number 
next to the ballot/precinct label at the bottom of the ballot acceptable, or are 
they going to want to place the serial number somewhere in the header of 
the ballot? Implementing this would be a lot of work. 
 
I understand.  The counties 
would accept whatever we decide to place the serial number. Printing the serial 
number next to the ballot/precinct label would be acceptable.
According to 
Ian, the font size would have to be the same.  So long as it is visible, I 
think where it would be the easiest to implement would be 
acceptable.
.
    5.    When 
does this have to be implemented by?
 
The sooner 
the better.  I know this will take some time. I just need to let the 
customer (Bexar County and Travis County) know we can do it, and will be 
able to deliver if they choose us as a vendor.  I can tell El Paso county 
that we are working on it.
 
Thanks.
 
Rodney
 
 
 -----Original 
Message-----
From: owner-rcr@gesn.com [mailto:owner-rcr@gesn.com]On 
Behalf Of Talbot Iredale
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 5:35 
PM
To: rcr@gesn.com
Subject: Re: serial numbers on 
ballots
  Rodney,
   
      I have a few question 
  regarding this RCR:
   
  
    - Does this not violate voter secrecy? Some states 
    have legislation that prohibits any identifying mark on the ballot that 
    would allow someone to identify the voter who cast the ballot. 
    
 - If we were to implement the 'automatic' 
    incrementing of serial numbers, how about ballots that do not print 
    correctly? Can we just ignore this problem and have 'missing' serial 
    numbers. 
    
 - What kind of audit logging to they want, if 
    any? 
    
 - Is printing the serial number next to the 
    ballot/precinct label at the bottom of the ballot acceptable, or are they 
    going to want to place the serial number somewhere in the header of the 
    ballot? Implementing this would be a lot of work. 
    
 - When does this have to be implemented 
    by?
 
  Tab
  
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    
    
    Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 8:49 
    AM
    Subject: serial numbers on 
ballots
    
    We are in the 
    process of Best and Final Offer with two counties, Bexar County and Travis 
    County.
    We are going 
    county wide with AccuVote-TS in El Paso county.  
    These counties 
    will all have BOD printers.  They are requesting that their BOD printer 
    be able to print
    serial numbers 
    on their ballots.  They want to be able to manually set the first 
    number, then have it
    increment 
    sequence ally from there.  This could seal the deal for at least 
    one county, Bexar.  We would
    win big points 
    with El Paso and Travis.  We need to have an answer for them fairly 
    quickly.  They will be making their
    decision around 
    the 29th of this month.  Thanks.