Pen meets Paper to create a rich voting experience.
Compare DPV to Optical Scan
Comparisons between Digital Pen Voting and Optical Scan balloting, and the overall
benefits of using Digital Pen Voting Systems.
vs 
1. Optical scan systems do not show voters how their marks were recorded. They only provide rudimentary notification of overvote and undervotes. DPV provides voters with a screen where they can verify that their choices were accurately recorded. If they missed an issue, then can simply re-mark their ballot. And even more impressive, DPV can show a voter an image of the ballot that was just cast. Most optical scan systems cannot do this. Several new optical systems do such image scanning, but they are very expensive and still rely on scanning technology. We NEVER scan anything.
BENEFIT: greater confidence that their vote was accurately recorded.
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2. DPV systems don’t have any scanning. As a result a voter does not have to feed any document into any device. This means less jams, less service worries--no motors, gears, rollers to worry about. In addition, if an optical scan reader fails in the field, the entire unit must be replaced. Therefore, expensive spare units must be on hand. With DPV, if a pen fails, you simply open up another one and voting continues. Pens cost about $200.00 vs. Thousands for a scanner.
BENEFIT: low cost system, more natural interface for voters, less service concerns.
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3. Optical Scanners have a small number of read sensors and therefore ballot circles or lines must align in a certain area. With digital pen voting, choices of ballot layouts are much more open and fluid. You are not restricted to a row of 2 or 3 ballot targets. You could even produce a ballot book with multiple pages. This can’t be done with optical scan. Keep this in mind too; if just ONE read sensor fails in an optical scan reader (and I have had this happen to me), that unit is out of service and the line backs up. Not so with digital pen voting.
BENEFIT: great ballot design flexibility. Not locked into a single ballot design format.
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4. With optical scan systems you can vote as many paper ballots as you want, but all voters have to form a line at the scanner. The scanner then becomes a choke point as voters wait in line. With digital pen voting, voting takes place in each ‘booth’ and there no line to wait in.
BENEFIT: greater throughput--more voters can vote in a shorter period of time. No more long lines and the criticism that comes from that. No choke point!
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5. Optical scan systems often require or use very expensive and heavy card stock. They must be kept in a humidity controlled environment as changes in paper size can affect their ability to be scanned. With digital paper systems, the paper can be regular paper of your choosing. It can be letter, or legal size or custom sized. It does not need to be stored in any special environment. In addition you can print the ballots In-House. No need for expensive outside printing.
BENEFIT: Much lower printing costs, no expensive storage costs for paper, ability to print on demand. No fears that ballots will be delivered late, or with errors. You print and control the ballot creation process.
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BENEFIT: greater confidence that their vote was accurately recorded.
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2. DPV systems don’t have any scanning. As a result a voter does not have to feed any document into any device. This means less jams, less service worries--no motors, gears, rollers to worry about. In addition, if an optical scan reader fails in the field, the entire unit must be replaced. Therefore, expensive spare units must be on hand. With DPV, if a pen fails, you simply open up another one and voting continues. Pens cost about $200.00 vs. Thousands for a scanner.
BENEFIT: low cost system, more natural interface for voters, less service concerns.
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3. Optical Scanners have a small number of read sensors and therefore ballot circles or lines must align in a certain area. With digital pen voting, choices of ballot layouts are much more open and fluid. You are not restricted to a row of 2 or 3 ballot targets. You could even produce a ballot book with multiple pages. This can’t be done with optical scan. Keep this in mind too; if just ONE read sensor fails in an optical scan reader (and I have had this happen to me), that unit is out of service and the line backs up. Not so with digital pen voting.
BENEFIT: great ballot design flexibility. Not locked into a single ballot design format.
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4. With optical scan systems you can vote as many paper ballots as you want, but all voters have to form a line at the scanner. The scanner then becomes a choke point as voters wait in line. With digital pen voting, voting takes place in each ‘booth’ and there no line to wait in.
BENEFIT: greater throughput--more voters can vote in a shorter period of time. No more long lines and the criticism that comes from that. No choke point!
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5. Optical scan systems often require or use very expensive and heavy card stock. They must be kept in a humidity controlled environment as changes in paper size can affect their ability to be scanned. With digital paper systems, the paper can be regular paper of your choosing. It can be letter, or legal size or custom sized. It does not need to be stored in any special environment. In addition you can print the ballots In-House. No need for expensive outside printing.
BENEFIT: Much lower printing costs, no expensive storage costs for paper, ability to print on demand. No fears that ballots will be delivered late, or with errors. You print and control the ballot creation process.
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For more details on Digital Pen Voting contact:
1. Chris Wilson
chris.wilson@penvote.com
614-388-9119
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