The present invention relates to a certification apparatus, and more particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method to certify casting a vote in an election.
In the United States, electronic voting machines replaced the paper-based ballot systems in many counties, intending to improve upon the drawbacks associated with the ageold paper ballot systems. However, electronic voting machines have their drawbacks and limitations. Electronic voting machines can be vulnerable to cyber-attacks and can be subject to fraudulent manipulation. From time-to-time people raise new concerns about electronic voting systems which can hurt voters by weakening their trust in fair elections. Additionally, mail-in paper ballots have raised a new concern about the integrity of elections.
There have been reports of votes being cast by deceased people, people who moved out of the city, people who may not be registered to vote, ineligible voters, inaccurate voter rolls, and many other discrepancies. Multiple scanning of the paper ballots had also been reported in the past.
When such concerns or claims of fraud are raised, auditing may be performed to verify the validity of ballots. However, it can be difficult to tell the difference between a paper ballot that was cast legally and properly by a registered voter and a ballot that was cast illegally by any means just by analyzing the ballot itself. Forensic audits seek to examine the ballot paper composition, ink composition, printing alignment and quality, method used to fill circles associated with candidates, creases in the paper in the case of mail-in ballots, and many other physical properties of the ballots. But physical properties of the ballots do not enable a forensic auditor to know the date, time, and place that the voter cast their vote.
Thus, a need is appreciated for certifying the casting of votes while the ballots are in the possession of the voters. A need is appreciated for notarization of the ballots at the time of casting the vote to help ensure authenticity and later aid in the validation of the ballots during an audit.
The term “ballot” hereinafter connotes a sheet of paper or cardboard used to cast a vote in elections and upon which the choice of voter is marked.
The term “voter” hereinafter connotes a person voting in an election.
The term “vote” hereinafter connotes a formal indication of a choice made by the voter in an election.
The phrase “casting a vote” or “cast a vote” hereinafter connotes a process by which a voter votes in an election.
The following presents a simplified summary of one or more embodiments of the present invention to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments and is intended to neither identify critical elements of all embodiments nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more embodiments in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The principal object of the present invention is therefore directed to a certifying apparatus for ballots that can certify the casting of votes for later audit or verification.
It is another object of the present invention that the certifying apparatus can operate autonomously.
It is still another object of the present invention that the certificate on ballots does not obscure the scanning of votes, bar codes, original markings, or voter markings on the ballot.
It is yet another object of the present invention that the disclosed apparatus is difficult to be manipulated.
It is a further object of the present invention that the disclosed apparatus can bolster the trust of people in fair voting.
It is still a further object of the present invention that the anonymity and secrecy of the voters and the voting process can be preserved.
It is an additional object of the present invention that the chain of custody of the ballot is preserved.
In one aspect, disclosed is an apparatus and method to certify the date, time and place of casting a vote. The disclosed apparatus can receive the ballot and print, at an appropriate area on the ballot, a certificate to certify the casting of the vote.
In one case, the certificate can include a serial number of the apparatus, name of the election, time and date of voting, notary name, notary ID, Notary password, election official name, election worker ID, election worker password, GPS coordinates of the location of the apparatus, location name, location address, location ID, an image of the polling station as captured by a camera coupled to the apparatus, an image from a weather satellite of cloud formation captured on the day of voting.
In one aspect, principles of blockchain technology can be applied for storing the records of casting the votes including the certificates, wherein each record can be stored as a block in the blockchain. Only part of the above record, i.e., a subset of the record can be printed on the ballot and the hash value of the respective block can also be printed on the ballot.
In one aspect, the hash value, also referred to hereinafter as only “hash”, can be printed in a form of an indicium that can be scanned by a suitable device to read the hash.
In one aspect, a ballot can be verified by comparing the hash on the ballot with the hash of certificates stored in the blockchain.
In one aspect, the data in blockchain can be encrypted and the encryption keys can be generated.
The accompanying figures, which are incorporated herein, form part of the specification and illustrate embodiments of the present invention. Together with the description, the figures further explain the principles of the present invention and enable a person skilled in the relevant arts to make and use the invention.
Subject matter will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments. Subject matter may, however, be embodied in a variety of different forms and, therefore, covered or claimed subject matter is intended to be construed as not being limited to any exemplary embodiments set forth herein; exemplary embodiments are provided merely to be illustrative. Likewise, reasonably broad scope for claimed or covered subject matter is intended. Among other things, for example, the subject matter may be embodied as methods, devices, components, or systems. The following detailed description is, therefore, not intended to be taken in a limiting sense.
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Likewise, the term “embodiments of the present invention” does not require that all embodiments of the invention include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.
The terminology used herein is to describe particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting to embodiments of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising,”, “includes” and/or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
The following detailed description includes the best currently contemplated mode or modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense but is made merely to illustrate the general principles of the invention since the scope of the invention will be best defined by the allowed claims of any resulting patent.
Disclosed are an apparatus and method to certify casting a vote in an election. The disclosed method can help verify at least the date and time of voting, and the location wherein the ballot is certified so that the ballot can be later verified, or an audit can be performed. Referring to
For example, a USB port, serial port, and the like are known to a skilled person for use in computers. The satellite image of clouds/weather can be uploaded through one of the input ports. For example, the image can be provided on a USB stick or a memory card, and the same can be connected to the apparatus by a notary.
The disclosed memory can include a certifying module 182, a blockchain module 184, and an encryption module 186. The certifying module 182 upon execution by the processor can generate a record certifying the casting of a vote. The blockchain module 184 upon execution by the processor can provide for storing the records as blocks in a blockchain. The encryption module 186 upon execution by the processor can provide for encryption of the records. The image of cloud formation can be captured on the day of the voting by a weather satellite. The captured image can be embedded with metadata, the metadata can include information such as the date and time at which the image was captured and the geographical coordinates of the geographical area in which the image was captured. The metadata can allow tracking of the image source for verification. The inclusion of satellite images in the record can provide evidence against frauds such as post-dating of the votes, and the like.
The certifying apparatus 100 can further include a GPS sensor 140 to capture the current location coordinates of the certifying apparatus 100. A camera 150 can also be provided to capture an image of the surroundings of the certifying apparatus 100 within a view field of the camera 150. In one case, the camera can capture images in near real-time within the polling location. During mail-in ballot applications, the camera can take a picture of whatever surrounding environment is within the field of view of the camera. In certain embodiments, a predefined avatar or indicium can be placed within the field of view of the camera, such that the avatar or image is also captured by the camera with the surroundings. Such as avatar or indicium may be declared, known, or distributed on the day of the election and not known to anyone before the day of the election. Thus, such an image can become a piece of evidence during the audit.
A receptacle 160 may also be included, however optional, that can receive a ballot for processing and through which a stamped ballot can be output. A receptacle can include a slot similar to a voting machine. A GPS sensor typically finds more than just the location information, such as the time. All or part of such information from a GPS sensor can be captured in the record.
A printing head 170 can print/stamp a certificate on the ballot. While
Referring to
In
It may be preferable to not print the entire record on a ballot, but the subset of records can be printed on the ballot and the record can be stored as a block in a blockchain. Each record can form a block and a hash value of the block can be printed on the ballot with other minimal information, such as the name and date, and place of election can be printed. It is understood that any other information may be printed with the hash value without departing from the scope of the present invention. Also, the principles of blockchain are known in the art, wherein the hash values of each block are based on the hash value of the previous block and the data record of the current block. The data in blockchain can also be encrypted and subsequently decrypted using standard encryption methods.
Referring to
While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above-described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention as claimed.
This application claims priority from the U.S. provisional pat. application Ser. No. 63/244,124, filed on Sep. 14, 2021, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63244124 | Sep 2021 | US |