Remote Ballot Marking

This repository contains the Hilton Roscoe Remote Ballot Marker (RBM). The RBM provides core remote ballot marking functionality, such as:

• Support for N-of-M and RCV voting methods
• Ballot definition using EML 410
• Overvote protection
• Undervote warnings (prior to save, print, etc.)
• Ballot transcription (barcode) support with custom encodings and symbologies
• Signed code and data with inspectable signatures

Roadmap items:

• Control of barcode symbology at data level

The RBM is a PDF

The RBM is a packaged as a self contained PDF. Use of PDF accomplishes two key goals:

• Enables a fully offline ballot marking experience
• Provides support for multiple workflows
  • Fill and print
  • Print and fill (by hand)

Trying it out

The easiest way to try out the Remote Ballot Marker is to open one of the sample PDFs, located under pdf/.

Getting Started

• Technical Background
• Non-technical Background
• Tasks for Election Officials

Ballot Styles

Ballot Styles are defined using EML 410. Please read that documentation for creating and loading ballot styles.

Source Code

The source code for the RBM is provided as a series of xdp files. Each file represents a portion of the XFA-template.

Generating PDFs from Source

PDFs can be generated by stitching the XDPs together such that they form a single xdp fragment. This can be accomplished using commercial tools or the XfaBuilder.

• Packaging PDFs

Limitations

The RBM is not designed to be a complete, turn key solution. The following features are considered out of scope:

• Voter Authentication
• Ballot Retrieval
• Ballot Return

RBM should be considered a prototype. It is not intended to be used as-is.

Additional Info

• Platform
  • PDF Readers
  • Boilerplate
  • AcroForms support
  • RBM Internals
• Ballot Definition
  • Common Tasks
  • Localization and Customization
  • EML Extensions
  • Barcode Support
  • RCV Support
• PDF and Data Signatures
• Packaging PDFs