Pen meets Paper to create a rich voting experience.
Q and A with Chris Wilson
Q and A with Chris Wilson of PenVote regarding the PenReg product that eliminates the need to data enter registration forms.
Q: Chris, can you give us a short rundown on what the PenReg product does and how it works?
C: Sure. First we take your existing voter registration form and we print it on our dot enabled paper. Then you get a digital pen. Let’s take a simple case of using it at a local board of election and doing walk in registrations. Then pen sits at a counter and is chained to the table just like pens at the bank. The prospective voter is given a dot enabled voter registration form and fills out the form with the digital pen. I can’t stress this next point enough---the pen uses INK--blue ink! So from the voter’s point of view the only thing different is that the pen is a bit larger than usual.
Q: And what happens after that? What does this pen do?
C: Well, there are a couple of scenarios here. The voter could dock then pen in the docking cradle, or simply leave it on the counter. The office worker at the BOE can dock the pen after each form, or wait until the end of the day. You could probably fill out 200 forms or more before you’d have to dock the pen. The cradle is connected via a USB cable to some computer in the office.
Now, when the pen is docked a small driver sends the data in the pen over to a server that houses the forms.
Q: What happens next?
C: Here’s where it gets really interesting. The handwriting is converted to TEXT and an XML file of the data is created. In addition, there is a verification portal built in that allows you to see the filled out voter registration form next to the fields on the form and it shows data that it converted from the handwriting. And you can make any corrections with that portal as well. Now the XML file is an industry data file that can easily be imported to any VR system.
Here you can see the handwriting converted to text and put in a data field.
The beauty of this is that all of the data entry of the form is done, and most of it is done correctly. All that needs to take place now is a quick overview of the conversion and correct anything that did not convert correctly--along with precincting of the address and whatever other processes that are typically done.
Q: I see you mentioned that you have the image of the form next to the converted data (much like you see above), but how do I get that image. Do I have to scan the paper forms?
C: No. With our system you NEVER scan anything--ever. Let me repeat that: there is NO SCANNING EVER!! When the pen is docked it creates a high resolution image (typically in a PDF format) of whatever document you are writing on--be it a voter registration form or ballot or what have you. You don’t need a scanner or a scanner operator to feed forms into it. That step is completely eliminated.
Q: So the data gets converted and sent to the VR. What happens to the original paper form?
C: Well, that can simply be filed. Some places file those now by date and others still maintain the paper alphabetically. The reality is that once it is filled out with the digital pen, the paper sort of drops off in importance except for one thing: you still have the WET INK signature.
Q: The wet ink signature issue is heating up isn’t it?
C: Yes, and it relates nicely to the debate we have seen from 2002 to today about paperless voting systems. You know there was a huge backlash against paperless voting machines (DREs). The upshot was that most states now require a paper ballot or the voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT). But the same thing is now heating up about the wet ink signature.
Q: What do you think is behind this debate?
C: Well, frankly a lot of scholars and pundits and so-called industry experts have been running around the country saying that there is nothing new under the sun in voter registration. They couldn’t be more wrong of course, but many of them don’t do their homework and remain ignorant of what we are doing. Thinking erroneously that nothing new is happening with paper based registration they have turned to electronic registration systems--perhaps kiosk registration systems. But there is no wet ink signature--it’s all electronic and it all suffers from the same debate about fraud and auditability that voting machines have. We have certainly mentioned to the activist community that if they wish to retain the wet ink signature they had better get behind PenReg because elections administrators want improvements in efficiency and this provides that but still keeps the wet ink. If they don’t support PenReg then get ready to have pure electronic registration systems flood the market, with a ton of controversy as well.
Q: Now most people don’t have a digital pen at home, so how many forms do you see being captured with the digital pen?
C: Quite a bit actually. Keep in mind that NVRA requires all sorts of public agencies to provide forms and offer assistance with filling them out. This includes motor vehicle offices, libraries, social service agencies, etc. All of these places could have the digital pen for registration forms. You know a lot of these agencies have been on the hot seat for not doing a good job of offering forms, or they have not been good about turning them in, or doing so in a timely manner.
So having the digital pen is great because when the pen is docked the data goes immediately to the board of elections. So there is no time delay in getting the paper forms back to the office, prepping them for scanning and then scheduling them for data entry. It goes silently, directly to the VR for verification.
Plus, if an agency were to lose the forms (all or some) they can be re-printed from the image from the pen. That way, you can contact that voter and ask them to come down and fill out another from and have the wet ink signature.
Q: The DMVs are a huge source for collecting registration forms. Wouldn’t they be interested in this?
C: We think so but haven’t talked with many of them yet. Look at how they automate some of this now. A person comes in a fills out a form in ink, then someone at the BMV enters the data into some kind of system. That data then creates an export file that is shipped off to the BOE. Then the data is reviewed for accuracy and much of it is bad bad bad. So the office staff at the BOE has to do a lot of clean up. Plus they still have to get the forms back. Typically that means you have a runner from the BOE that goes out and gets the forms. It just seems silly how some of these systems are set up. Using PenReg just seems like such a simple solution.
Q: How well has this product been received? Are states or VR vendors showing interest?
C: We’ve seen some interest. Certainly once they see it live they are excited about it and they begin to see how they can gain advantage with this. We have seen states that have Election Day Registration (EDR) get excited about this. They can collect hundreds of thousands of forms in a single day and have all that data posted to their statewide VR by the close of elections!!! That’s some amazing efficiency. So we’re hopeful that some of these organizations will seek trials of our products.
Q: How does someone go about testing or trying this out?
C: Just contact us on our web page at www.penvote.com. We can easily create voter registration form for any state, or even use the Federal Post Card form. The ideal situation is to find a progressive BOE that would like to capture forms in-house and evaluate the efficiency of our product. We’re not interested in providing trials just for the sake of trials—we expect people that try it to take it on full time if it meets the objectives of the trial. So we expect organizations to have a true interest in seeing this work for them. In that regard we can set them up with a server and some pens for test and evaluation. We will print sufficient forms for them to get up and running and have some data to evaluate.
The first step is to visit out web site and go to the PenReg page and spend some time looking at the graphics and text there. There is a nice flow chart that shows how the process works. Then contact us and tell us about your needs and we can set something up for you.
Q: Would other organizations that gather registration forms, like ACORN want to use this technology?
C: We think so. Look, ACORN has had a huge problem with people sitting around their house at 2am and filling in forms from the phone book. We can detect and stop that. Each form has a date/time stamp embedded in that, and that can be looked at. So if you find out that some worker filled out 100 forms from 2am to 3am, you can guess it’s probably fraudulent. Plus since you can assign he pens to individual collectors, you can determine who turned them in. So we think it would put an end to the kind of problems that ACORN has had—presuming of course that they care to end that problem.
Q: I have heard that the pens also have Bluetooth. Can you explain what that is and how that works?
C: Sure. Bluetooth is a local type of wireless connection. As a result the pens can talk to a cell phone or Blackberry. This means that the data collected by the pen can be sent to your office via your cell phone or Blackberry. You can also receive messages back. The upshot: well, you could process voter registrations at say, the county fair, and you could get a message back if they are already registered with the same information. Think of all the “re-registered” forms you could avoid having to process with this system.
Q: It sounds like the major political parties might have an interest in using these pens as well to collect forms.
C: Well, we think so. Sure they can collect forms the old fashioned way and then turn them in and hope and pray they are entered in time and done correctly. However, if you use the pens it’s like having top priority in processing your forms. What party wouldn’t like that? Plus many states now have requirements that state how fast the forms must be turned in—and there are penalties if they don’t follow this. With the digital pen, the data and forms come in instantly and this simply obviates the need for such rules.
Q: What do you think of this effort to create universal registration and have it done purely electronically?
C: I wish I had more time to fully discuss this, but for the most part I believe this movement is misguided. While some of their goals are laudable, they have no specific plans for how this system will actually work. Look, we just went through a 7 year bloodbath over paperless voting and the critics of the DRE mostly won. I can’t imagine any serious election administrator proposing this—ex pols yes, but not administrators. Let’s face facts; the 50 states mostly did a LOUSY job of implementing the statewide VR requirement of HAVA. Many of them still aren’t HAVA compliant. My own state, Ohio, is still in the hot seat over checks with SSN and the BMV and they can’t seem to get this done. And don’t forget, it’s late in 2009. So I think the concept of some firm running national registration is just crazy.
It’s as if they somehow think that if you hook up the BMV, the school systems, the division of fish and game and whatever other public database there, you can magically have a list of valid registered voters—so the BOEs have NO role in maintaining this or inputting this. And what recourse do people have when this monolithic system says they are not registered?
What is probably most disturbing is that on their web site they list the “Problems of Paper” as the main argument for moving to this system. Yet several members of this committee know that our PenReg product solves those so-called paper products. So rather than supporting a technology that exists TODAY and can improve efficiency and yet retain what is best about paper registration forms, they try to ignore us and propose this science-fiction concept of some self aware database that will magically solve all the issues related to registration. It’s simply inane.
Q: Thank you for your time today and for explaining more about your PenReg product.
C: Thank you. Again, we’re open for trials and those who wish to see this first hand can contact us at www.penvote.com for more information, or call 614-388-9119 to talk to us.
C: Sure. First we take your existing voter registration form and we print it on our dot enabled paper. Then you get a digital pen. Let’s take a simple case of using it at a local board of election and doing walk in registrations. Then pen sits at a counter and is chained to the table just like pens at the bank. The prospective voter is given a dot enabled voter registration form and fills out the form with the digital pen. I can’t stress this next point enough---the pen uses INK--blue ink! So from the voter’s point of view the only thing different is that the pen is a bit larger than usual.
Q: And what happens after that? What does this pen do?
C: Well, there are a couple of scenarios here. The voter could dock then pen in the docking cradle, or simply leave it on the counter. The office worker at the BOE can dock the pen after each form, or wait until the end of the day. You could probably fill out 200 forms or more before you’d have to dock the pen. The cradle is connected via a USB cable to some computer in the office.
Now, when the pen is docked a small driver sends the data in the pen over to a server that houses the forms.
Q: What happens next?
C: Here’s where it gets really interesting. The handwriting is converted to TEXT and an XML file of the data is created. In addition, there is a verification portal built in that allows you to see the filled out voter registration form next to the fields on the form and it shows data that it converted from the handwriting. And you can make any corrections with that portal as well. Now the XML file is an industry data file that can easily be imported to any VR system.
Here you can see the handwriting converted to text and put in a data field.
The beauty of this is that all of the data entry of the form is done, and most of it is done correctly. All that needs to take place now is a quick overview of the conversion and correct anything that did not convert correctly--along with precincting of the address and whatever other processes that are typically done.
Q: I see you mentioned that you have the image of the form next to the converted data (much like you see above), but how do I get that image. Do I have to scan the paper forms?
C: No. With our system you NEVER scan anything--ever. Let me repeat that: there is NO SCANNING EVER!! When the pen is docked it creates a high resolution image (typically in a PDF format) of whatever document you are writing on--be it a voter registration form or ballot or what have you. You don’t need a scanner or a scanner operator to feed forms into it. That step is completely eliminated.
Q: So the data gets converted and sent to the VR. What happens to the original paper form?
C: Well, that can simply be filed. Some places file those now by date and others still maintain the paper alphabetically. The reality is that once it is filled out with the digital pen, the paper sort of drops off in importance except for one thing: you still have the WET INK signature.
Q: The wet ink signature issue is heating up isn’t it?
C: Yes, and it relates nicely to the debate we have seen from 2002 to today about paperless voting systems. You know there was a huge backlash against paperless voting machines (DREs). The upshot was that most states now require a paper ballot or the voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT). But the same thing is now heating up about the wet ink signature.
Q: What do you think is behind this debate?
C: Well, frankly a lot of scholars and pundits and so-called industry experts have been running around the country saying that there is nothing new under the sun in voter registration. They couldn’t be more wrong of course, but many of them don’t do their homework and remain ignorant of what we are doing. Thinking erroneously that nothing new is happening with paper based registration they have turned to electronic registration systems--perhaps kiosk registration systems. But there is no wet ink signature--it’s all electronic and it all suffers from the same debate about fraud and auditability that voting machines have. We have certainly mentioned to the activist community that if they wish to retain the wet ink signature they had better get behind PenReg because elections administrators want improvements in efficiency and this provides that but still keeps the wet ink. If they don’t support PenReg then get ready to have pure electronic registration systems flood the market, with a ton of controversy as well.
Q: Now most people don’t have a digital pen at home, so how many forms do you see being captured with the digital pen?
C: Quite a bit actually. Keep in mind that NVRA requires all sorts of public agencies to provide forms and offer assistance with filling them out. This includes motor vehicle offices, libraries, social service agencies, etc. All of these places could have the digital pen for registration forms. You know a lot of these agencies have been on the hot seat for not doing a good job of offering forms, or they have not been good about turning them in, or doing so in a timely manner.
So having the digital pen is great because when the pen is docked the data goes immediately to the board of elections. So there is no time delay in getting the paper forms back to the office, prepping them for scanning and then scheduling them for data entry. It goes silently, directly to the VR for verification.
Plus, if an agency were to lose the forms (all or some) they can be re-printed from the image from the pen. That way, you can contact that voter and ask them to come down and fill out another from and have the wet ink signature.
Q: The DMVs are a huge source for collecting registration forms. Wouldn’t they be interested in this?
C: We think so but haven’t talked with many of them yet. Look at how they automate some of this now. A person comes in a fills out a form in ink, then someone at the BMV enters the data into some kind of system. That data then creates an export file that is shipped off to the BOE. Then the data is reviewed for accuracy and much of it is bad bad bad. So the office staff at the BOE has to do a lot of clean up. Plus they still have to get the forms back. Typically that means you have a runner from the BOE that goes out and gets the forms. It just seems silly how some of these systems are set up. Using PenReg just seems like such a simple solution.
Q: How well has this product been received? Are states or VR vendors showing interest?
C: We’ve seen some interest. Certainly once they see it live they are excited about it and they begin to see how they can gain advantage with this. We have seen states that have Election Day Registration (EDR) get excited about this. They can collect hundreds of thousands of forms in a single day and have all that data posted to their statewide VR by the close of elections!!! That’s some amazing efficiency. So we’re hopeful that some of these organizations will seek trials of our products.
Q: How does someone go about testing or trying this out?
C: Just contact us on our web page at www.penvote.com. We can easily create voter registration form for any state, or even use the Federal Post Card form. The ideal situation is to find a progressive BOE that would like to capture forms in-house and evaluate the efficiency of our product. We’re not interested in providing trials just for the sake of trials—we expect people that try it to take it on full time if it meets the objectives of the trial. So we expect organizations to have a true interest in seeing this work for them. In that regard we can set them up with a server and some pens for test and evaluation. We will print sufficient forms for them to get up and running and have some data to evaluate.
The first step is to visit out web site and go to the PenReg page and spend some time looking at the graphics and text there. There is a nice flow chart that shows how the process works. Then contact us and tell us about your needs and we can set something up for you.
Q: Would other organizations that gather registration forms, like ACORN want to use this technology?
C: We think so. Look, ACORN has had a huge problem with people sitting around their house at 2am and filling in forms from the phone book. We can detect and stop that. Each form has a date/time stamp embedded in that, and that can be looked at. So if you find out that some worker filled out 100 forms from 2am to 3am, you can guess it’s probably fraudulent. Plus since you can assign he pens to individual collectors, you can determine who turned them in. So we think it would put an end to the kind of problems that ACORN has had—presuming of course that they care to end that problem.
Q: I have heard that the pens also have Bluetooth. Can you explain what that is and how that works?
C: Sure. Bluetooth is a local type of wireless connection. As a result the pens can talk to a cell phone or Blackberry. This means that the data collected by the pen can be sent to your office via your cell phone or Blackberry. You can also receive messages back. The upshot: well, you could process voter registrations at say, the county fair, and you could get a message back if they are already registered with the same information. Think of all the “re-registered” forms you could avoid having to process with this system.
Q: It sounds like the major political parties might have an interest in using these pens as well to collect forms.
C: Well, we think so. Sure they can collect forms the old fashioned way and then turn them in and hope and pray they are entered in time and done correctly. However, if you use the pens it’s like having top priority in processing your forms. What party wouldn’t like that? Plus many states now have requirements that state how fast the forms must be turned in—and there are penalties if they don’t follow this. With the digital pen, the data and forms come in instantly and this simply obviates the need for such rules.
Q: What do you think of this effort to create universal registration and have it done purely electronically?
C: I wish I had more time to fully discuss this, but for the most part I believe this movement is misguided. While some of their goals are laudable, they have no specific plans for how this system will actually work. Look, we just went through a 7 year bloodbath over paperless voting and the critics of the DRE mostly won. I can’t imagine any serious election administrator proposing this—ex pols yes, but not administrators. Let’s face facts; the 50 states mostly did a LOUSY job of implementing the statewide VR requirement of HAVA. Many of them still aren’t HAVA compliant. My own state, Ohio, is still in the hot seat over checks with SSN and the BMV and they can’t seem to get this done. And don’t forget, it’s late in 2009. So I think the concept of some firm running national registration is just crazy.
It’s as if they somehow think that if you hook up the BMV, the school systems, the division of fish and game and whatever other public database there, you can magically have a list of valid registered voters—so the BOEs have NO role in maintaining this or inputting this. And what recourse do people have when this monolithic system says they are not registered?
What is probably most disturbing is that on their web site they list the “Problems of Paper” as the main argument for moving to this system. Yet several members of this committee know that our PenReg product solves those so-called paper products. So rather than supporting a technology that exists TODAY and can improve efficiency and yet retain what is best about paper registration forms, they try to ignore us and propose this science-fiction concept of some self aware database that will magically solve all the issues related to registration. It’s simply inane.
Q: Thank you for your time today and for explaining more about your PenReg product.
C: Thank you. Again, we’re open for trials and those who wish to see this first hand can contact us at www.penvote.com for more information, or call 614-388-9119 to talk to us.
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