Verifying votes by mail

Two counties in California used a signature verification solution from Parascript in counting the results of the 2010 primary elections. Its SignatureXpert software was used to process more than 100,000 Vote by Mail envelopes. The solution also involved Criterion sorting systems from BÖWE BELL + HOWELL (BBH).

“County officials were able to quickly process ballots while maintaining item-level tracking and performing multiple levels of verification during the election,” says George Varghese, BBH senior product manager. “With voting by mail gaining in importance and popularity, comprehensive solutions that provide fast, efficient processing and high levels of integrity are critical.”

According to a press release from Parascript, its technology leverages artificial intelligence and uses comprehensive, advanced methods of signature verification. It performs image cleansing, locates the signatures on the envelope images and verifies signature authenticity. The sorting system from BBH verifies and sorts incoming envelopes in a single pass. Verification includes signature matching, thickness checks (to determine if no ballot or more than one ballot was processed) and envelope barcode identifier validation.