Ballot Image Samples
CitizensOversight (2019-08-19) RayLutz
This Page: https://https://copswiki.org/Common/M1917
More Info: AuditEngine, ElectionAudits, ElectionIntegrity, OpenBallotInitiative
General
Ballots are desiged by election systems to be compatible with (usually) fairly simplistic optical scanning system (very few detectors. The database of election systems is here: https://www.verifiedvoting.org/verifier/
ES&S Ballot Specification
- BallotProductionGuide.pdf: Includes ES&S Ballot specification
Sample Election data files from Dane County, WI (2019 Spring Election)
- Data for all ballots in this election: https://countyofdane.sharefile.com/share/view/s2e1a08e987345268
- It appears that they have now standardized on PDF format rather than PBM
- This county uses ES&S DS200 or DS850 scanners.
- See DS200 info here: https://www.essvote.com/products/ds200/
- See DS850 info here: https://www.essvote.com/products/ds850/ And demo video: https://vimeo.com/59766481
- About 154K ballots in this county election. See XLS files. First one is limited to first 100K records.
- There are ~208 ballot styles in this set. Different style means different contests included on the ballot.
- In general, there are between probably 100 to 900 styles in any given district.
- The style is shown in the upper RH corner of the ballot (would vary due to ballot design by other vendor equipment.
- Here are some sample images from this set.
- 203403i.pdf: Style 1
- 203404i.pdf: Style 2
- 203405i.pdf: Style 2
- 203406i.pdf: Style 2
- 203407i.pdf: Style 2
- 203005i.pdf: Style 6
- 203006i.pdf: Style 4
- Structure of the archive:
- 2019 Spring Election Ballot Images.zip 2.032 GB
- T Albion Wds 1-2
- Nonpartisan
- 203403c.pdf (34KB) -- PDF version of cast vote record -- PLEASE NOTE: These files are simply a pdf printout of the cast vote record for this ballot, which is already available as a .xlsx file. There is no need to OCR these pdf files because the data is already available.
- 203403i.pdf (34KB) -- PDF ballot images, front and back
- ... 836 items (418 pdf files, two images each)
- T Berry Wds 1-2
- Nonpartisan
- 203005c.pdf (45kB)
- 203005i.pdf (38KB)
- ... 796 items (398 pdf files, two images each)
- ... total of 49 total folders
- 2019 Spring Election Ballot Images-1.zip 2.671 GB
- 2019 Spring Election Ballot Images-2.zip 2.367 GB
- 2019 Spring Election Ballot Images-3.zip 1.922 GB
- 2019 Spring Election Ballot Images-4.zip 2.026 GB
- 2019 Spring Election Cast Vote Records.xlsx 83 MB (100K records)
- 2019 Spring Election Cast Vote Records.xlsx 42 MB ( 54K records)
Sample Election data files from Dane County, WI (2016 November Election)
- This is an earlier election and they use uncompressed PBM format, then ZIP compress. It performs pretty well.
- There is a separate image file for the front and rear, denoted by 'F' and 'R' characters in the file name.
- We can note that these ballots are not optimal for scanning because they use "gray scale" background in contest names causing the text to
- Structure of the archive:
03/03/2017 04:10 PM 2,199,450,541 2_Dunkirk to Fitchburg.zip 03/03/2017 04:54 PM 3,565,565,710 1_Albion to DeForest.zip 03/04/2017 12:46 AM 1,449,300,751 4_Madison City Wards 19 to 31.zip 03/04/2017 01:44 AM 2,549,097,540 3_Madison City Wards 1 to 21.zip 03/04/2017 09:00 AM 4,361,012,127 6_Maple Bluff to Mt Horeb (4).zip 03/04/2017 09:21 AM 5,900,596,696 7_Oregon to Sun Prairie.zip 03/04/2017 04:08 PM 13,081,950,177 5_Madison City Wards 40 - Madison Town.zip
- 2_Dunkirk to Fitchburg.zip
- Dunkirk Town Wards 1-6.zip
- Dunkirk Town Wards 1-6 (and 6 more folders like this one.)
01/01/2017 01:00 AM 612,181 N0000190000DS011339036442c2318c33a1b13R.pbm 01/01/2017 01:00 AM 611,749 N0000190000DS01133903644302d4996f32923F.pbm 01/01/2017 01:00 AM 610,237 N0000190000DS01133903644302d4996f32923R.pbm 01/01/2017 01:00 AM 609,157 N0000190000DS011339036443475754560c3f5F.pbm 01/01/2017 01:00 AM 610,237 N0000190000DS011339036443475754560c3f5R.pbm 01/01/2017 01:00 AM 612,181 N0000190000DS01133903644348e21d5a92999F.pbm ... snip ... 01/01/2017 01:00 AM 610,669 W0000190000DS01133903646c6f11a32e2f294F.pbm 01/01/2017 01:00 AM 611,749 W0000190000DS01133903646d01e3d0350a2a2F.pbm 01/01/2017 01:00 AM 610,669 W0000190000DS01133903647bc9989f1491128F.pbm 2458. File(s) 1,501,524,010 bytes
- Here are sample image files in this set:
- N0000180000DS01133903640a2ee5ec21ac4f3F.pbm
- N0000180000DS01133903640a2ee5ec21ac4f3F.pdf PDF version
- N0000180000DS01133903640a2ee5ec21ac4f3R.pbm
- N0000180000DS01133903640a2ee5ec21ac4f3R.pdf PDF version
- N0000180000DS01133903640a2ee90a1f5a926F.pbm
- N0000180000DS01133903640a2ee90a1f5a926R.pbm
- N0000180000DS01133903640a28cfeb5101b26F.pbm
- N0000180000DS01133903640a28cfeb5101b26R.pbm
Ballots from Osceola, Florida (August 30, 2016 Primary)
- These are PDFs with two images each, including the front and back of each sheet.
- Grayscale contest name area is difficult to scan as characters bleed.
- The "D100" might be the style indicator, not sure. But these are all the Democratic primary ballots
- This appears to be the same election system as the one used in Dane County in 2019.
- Examples:
- 1433i.pdf: 1433i.pdf
- 1580i.pdf: 1580i.pdf
- 1658i.pdf: 1658i.pdf
- 1719i.pdf: 1719i.pdf
- 1730i.pdf: 1730i.pdf
- 1731i.pdf: 1731i.pdf
- 1782i.pdf: 1782i.pdf
- 1844i.pdf: 1844i.pdf
- 1989i.pdf: 1989i.pdf
- 1994i.pdf: 1994i.pdf
Los Angeles Ballot Layout Standard
This includes spec for ballot marking device output which uses 2d barcode which we must not trust
- VSAP-Ballots-RFI-Final-with-Attachments.pdf: Ballot specification for new LA voting machines
Other ballot layouts
There are a number of examples of ballot layouts at this link: https://civicdesign.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/