Category: Uncategorized

The most important document in America today are not financial. Nor are they contractual, nor are they even laws. The ballot is, simply, the most important document, as it renders the decisions of its citizens to define every aspect of American life: Financial, security, military, sociological, culture, transportation, medical, and every other interaction all has its genesis in the ballot, and the decisions they convey to determine the direction of America.

So it makes no sense to treat ballots with less security than convenience store receipts–unless you are trying to cheat the system. For over two centuries, voting has always taken place at poll stations on an exclusive basis, with the moral turpitude of the poll workers providing the security of the ballots themselves. But in the past 20 years, ballots have migrated from poll station documents to mail-in documents that are printed virtually anywhere, with no controls to their manufacture or their navigation history.

When we look at the documents like currency, bonds, financial certificates, and even lottery tickets, we see strict controls at all stages of their manufacture and creation of those documents. Imagine the ability to print one hundred dollar bills, or winning lottery tickets, and then passing them off as real. It would never pass.

VoterComp has initiated the most secure and auditable ballot process in history. The manufacture of the ballots will be done at a mint-grade security process. But physical design is not the only facet. The ability to transport the ballots through the voting process must be just as secure as that we treat vital financial documents. That includes secure transport, secure storage prior to use, secure delivery to the voter whether it be at the precinct polling stations, or arranged to be delivered to the absentee voter. After that, the ballots need to be securely processed during actual vote of the citizen. Secure transportation back to the regional voting center follows, in preparation for the official counting process. After the validation of the vote, which at this point becomes official, the ballots are transported to immediate secure storage for the constitutionally-mandated limits of 22 months. At that point, they can legally be destroyed, or states may elect to archive the ballots in perpetuity in a secure,

Top-Level data points are the core elements of the voting process. While the term “state” is used as the primary jurisdiction level, in certain circumstances other types of jurisdictions apply, notably “district” (ex. District of Columbia) and “territory” (ex. Puerto Rico). For the basis of this thesis, “state” shall include all the other forms of jurisdiction.

All Top-Level data points are unique and cannot be replicated, and will be referenced in all database entities through data normalization using the same name as the data point, using the suffix “ID.”

Voter (VoterID): A qualified citizen and resident of a state in the United States (US). Although states oversee jurisdiction of their voter rolls, the VoterID should remain unique even among multiple states, in preparation for a compact.

Precinct (PrecinctID): The agency that administers all voters within its voting jurisdiction. A precinct is usually defined by geographical borders and contains all voters whose primary residence fall within those borders.

Candidate (CandidateID): A qualified individual who runs for office.

Office (OfficeID): The position candidates vie for in an election.

Race (RaceID): An individual office with the candidates running for a particular office, or a particular direct-vote issue such as a proposition or referendum. NOTE: While the term may discomfort some based upon its namesake usage regarding controversial racial issues, the term “Race” has been generically used to indicate election status since the founding of the country, and I maintain should continue its usage despite potential controversy.

Slate (SlateID): A list of all races, and their candidates, pertaining to the election of a particular voting jurisdiction (group of precincts).

Election (ElectionID): An event in which voters select candidates for the offices for which they are running for from a slate.

Election Cycle (ElectionCycleID): A series of elections that contain related elections, notably the Primary and General elections, along with ancillary elections relating to them, such as runoff elections. (Note: special elections such as those to fill a vacant office will have its own election cycle if the election is not partnered with any other election on a conventional election cycle.)

Ballot (BallotID): The item containing the votes of a single voter for a single slate.

Vote Transaction (VoteTransactionID): The event of a voter submitting his completed ballot to be entered at the precinct.

Vote Transaction Type (VoteTransactionTypeID): The way the ballot is submitted.

Precinct Election Group (PrecinctElectionGroupID): The identification of all vote transactions (ballots cast) in a single election in a single precinct.

Slate Election Group (SlateElectionGroupID): The identification of all vote transactions in a single election in a group of precincts that share the same slate of candidates and races.

State Election Group (StateElectionGroupID): The identification of all results of all Precinct Election Groups within a state, district, or territory.

Voter Election Cycle ID (VoterElectionCycleID): The public identification number of a voter that stays consistent through the entire election cycle. (Artificial key; Natural key is combination of VoterID and ElectionCycleID)