This document proposes a simpler way to implement an OMR-based automated election system (AES) in the Philippines. It suggests using OMR machines located at voting centers to scan paper ballots instead of transporting ballot boxes. The design of the ballot is emphasized as more important than the OMR machine. Electronic records of votes would be transmitted to canvassing centers while maintaining transparency through manual ballot counting if needed. Additional features like time-stamping transmissions and owning rather than leasing equipment are recommended. Comments on this proposal are welcomed.

1. A Better Way
to Implement
an OMR-based AES
is a Simpler Way
Bill Torres
wttorres@gmail.com
05 July 2010
7/5/2010 1

2. What’s this?
 Slides 1, 3-9 are the same slides I used in a brief presentation during a forum
held at the AIM Conference Center on 05 July 2010 that reviewed the AES
(automated election system) of the May 10, 2010 Elections in the Philippines.
 I did not show Slide 10 on the Ballot Box anymore – it’s not ICT!
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• Where I’m coming from:
 I believed from the start that OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) is the
appropriate technology for automating our country’s elections.
 The OMR machine/s must be located at the Voting Center so that the ballot
boxes need not be carried physically far from the location of the precincts.
 The OMR-based AES, being paper -based , is fully transparent ; if necessary , the
ballots can be manually counted and compared with the electronic records.
 The design/specification of the ballot is very important – more important than
the OMR machine.
 The AES’s ICT infrastructure together with the OMR hardware and its operating
system must be owned, rather than leased or rented, and can be shared by
other wide-scale data gathering/monitoring applications.
• Your comments/suggestions are welcome – please email them to me at:
wttorres@gmail.com
7/5/2010 2

3. ”Solution Architecture”
Highlights
1. The Ballot
2. What the Voter does
3. What the OMR machine does
4. What the Server does
5. What the Telecom Network does
6. Additional Features
7/5/2010 3

4. The Ballot
• An official ballot should have the necessary
security features that would be next to
impossible to fake. (A fake ballot shall be
automatically rejected by any OMR machine.)
• The ballot for national candidates is different
from the ballot for local candidates.
• The ballot will allow the voter to enter the marks
for the precinct number.
• The ballot will allow the voter to enter the marks
corresponding to the candidates being selected.
7/5/2010 4

5. What the Voter does
• Registers to vote and gets an official ballot.
• Fills up the ballot.
• Places the ballot inside a locked translucent box.
Note: This is as simple as I can think of -- for the voter. Also, a paper-
based voting system , which this OMR-based AES is, makes it possible to
familiarize the voters on how to properly fill up the ballots ahead of the
election period through the use of a facsimile of the ballot – which can
published in newspapers with nation-wide circulation, for example.
7/5/2010 5

6. What the OMR machine does
• Accepts (or rejects) the ballots fed by the concerned
authorized operator.
• Reads the ballot and counts up the number of votes per
candidate.
• Provides an internal electronic record of the ballot
together with the precinct number and the OMR
machine's ID number. (The GPS coordinates at the voting
center location would be nice to have!)
• Prints copies of the precinct tally of the votes for all
national candidates as well as for all the local candidates
at the municipality or city, the provincial and
congressional district levels.
• Sends electronically to canvassing center/s the record
comprising the precinct tally of the votes and the
underlined items above.
7/5/2010 6

7. What the Server does
• Accepts (or rejects) the electronic records it
receives.
• Aggregates the precinct tally of votes for all
precincts per city or municipality, province, and
nation, as the case may be. (The electronic
records of the results should also include the
identification number of the Server and the GPS
coordinates of the Server location.)
• Prints copies of the results.
• Sends electronically copies of the results to the
concerned servers.
7/5/2010 7

8. What the Telecom Network does
• Transmits the records of the precinct tally of
votes from the concerned OMR machines at
voting centers to the designated server/s of
the canvassing centers.
• Transmits the electronic records of canvassing
results from a server to other designated
server(s).
• Provides security features including
encryption and “time-stamping” of the
records at the start and completion of the
transmission.
7/5/2010 8

9. Additional features
• Each and every OMR machine is to be activated at the close
of voting in all the precincts at each voting center.
• An OMR’s internal time clock is automatically set (and
recorded each time this is done) in the time sequence of
occurrence: (1) upon shipment of the OMR machine from
the national depot, (2) each time it is activated,
deactivated or reset, and, finally, (3) upon completion of a
precinct’s operation.
• The OMR machines should be owned and operated by, say,
a government-owned or -controlled organization – not
COMELEC -- and their use shared and paid for by other
enterprises (in education. health services, etc.). Similarly,
Telecom services should be contracted for on an annual
basis, based on anticipated or planned shared usage.
• The development and maintenance of the AES Application
Software can and should be contracted to a Philippine–
based company.
7/5/2010 9

10. Ballot Box Design
• The box is made of translucent material with an open top and
a cover that can be locked onto the box.
• A horizontal slit (for inserting the ballots) is placed on one end
near the top part of the box.
• A rectangular piece of opaque plastic material (opm) is placed
inside the box which will rest on top of the inserted ballots in
the normal position.
• At the middle and on the top part of the opm is securely
fastened a vertical plastic rod (vpr) that passes through a hole
on the middle part of the box cover. Around the vpr is a spiral
spring that pushes the opm against the inserted ballots at the
bottom of the box.
• To insert a ballot, the voter first lifts the vpr to the top of the
box, then inserts the ballot and, when the just inserted ballot
is inside the box, the voter slowly releases the vpr.
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