Photos: E-voting gets touchy

A visitor tries out Automark’s electronic voting system at the National\r\nFederation of the Blind conference in July 2005. The Voter Assist\r\nTerminal is designed for use by people who aren’t able to personally\r\nmark a ballot as a result of physical impairments or language barriers,\r\nthe company says. A paper printout of the finished ballot is provided to\r\nvoters.

The Automark VAT, seen here in production, is a hybrid of several\r\ndevices: scanner, printer, touch screen display and input device. The\r\ndata for a given poll, such as a candidate’s name, is stored on a\r\ncompact flash card, a storage technology used in digital cameras.\r\nOfficials can customize the data–for example, they can give phonetic\r\npronunciation of names for use in a synthesized speech feature.

The almost-finished machine. In use, voters can carry out the voting process\r\nusing the touch screen, a “puff-sip” device, or by following audio\r\nprompts along with a keypad. AutoMark says the system should be in use\r\nby more than 30,000 precincts by November’s elections, and sales will\r\nexceed $100 million this year.

Another new maker of e-voting systems is Avante International\r\nTechnology, which produces a range of systems under the Vote-Trakker\r\nbrand. Shown here is the Vote-Trakker EVC308-SPR-FF, a full-face system\r\nwith a 30-inch touch screen that will display candidate names in at\r\nleast 14-point font, as laid out by Federal Election Commission\r\nrequirements. It also has a pop-up screen.

Avante’s system in use for early voting in the general election in\r\nSacramento County, Calif., over 11 days in 2002. The touch-screen device\r\nis intended to aid people with impairments that may prevent them from\r\ncasting a ballot otherwise.

The Vote-Trakker prints out a paper record of the ballot image once the\r\nindividual has completed their choices. The record can act as a\r\nverification that the vote has been tallied, Avante says.