US3408002A - Voting machine - Google Patents

Description

A. V. MARTIN VOTING MACHINE Oct. 29, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 6, 1967 GUITIOKI QUISTIONS osncss INVENTOR.

AFTON M41277 63m. m, M1652 ATTORNEYS A. V. MARTIN VOTING MACHINE Oct. 29, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March a, 1967 6 INVENTOR AFTO/V MMART/N A. V. MARTIN VOTING MACHINE Oct. 29, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 6, 1967 INVENTOR' /AFTON V-MART/N ATTORNEYS A. V. MARTIN VOTING MACHINE Oct. 29, 1968 5 SheetsSheet 4 Filed March 6, 1967 INVENTOR.

AFTON M MART/N BY VIII/I/l/I/I/II/IIA A TTOPNE Y5 A. V. MARTIN VOTING MACHINE Oct. 29, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 6, 1967 2 W O R PARTY a ROW 3 PARTY C ROW 6 PARTY B INVENTOR.

AFTON v. MA RTl/V A2 0PNEY5 United States Patent 3,408,002 VOTING MACHINE Afton Virgil Martin, Jamestown, N.Y., assignor to AVM Corporation, Jamestown, N.Y. Filed Mar. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 621,059 7 Claims. (Cl. 235-54) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A voting machine including improved means reacting automatically to the voters first candidate selection to henceforth limit his voting operation to that candidates party only; thereby simplifying the voting process while insuring that proper voting procedures are maintained in accordance with the applicable election codes. The mechanism includes means whereby the voter may revise his party and/ or candidate selection, in case of an erroneous first selection or change of mind. Also, the mechanism includes provisions whereby the above operational features are attainable when the ballot presentation displays a group of party candidates in a plurality of adjacent rows, and/ or when the ballot presentation displays party candidates on alternately disposed rows.

This invention relates to voting machines of the type disclosed for example in US. Patent 1,194,332, 2,787,414, and 3,174,684, and more particularly to improved means therein for simplifying voting procedures in connection with primary elections, when it is permissible for the voter to secretly afiiliate with his preferred party.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved machine as aforesaid whereby the voter is no longer required to perform a separate party designation step prior to voting, such as by manipulation of a party designation lever or the like; thereby shortening the voting cycle time and increasing the overall voter capacity of the machine.

Another object is to provide improvements in machines as aforesaid whereby to simplify the mechanisms thereof and to thereby reduce their costs of manufacture and maintenance.

Another object is to provide in a machine of the type aforesaid an improved interlock control system to render the machine fraud-proof, yet at the same time more versatile and applicable to a variety of voting procedures.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the specification hereinafter.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a voting machine embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of a portion of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view, on enlarged scale, taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary front perspective view thereof with portions broken away to reveal interior mechanisms;

FIG. 5 illustrates fragmentarily a typical personal choice paper ballot as delivered by the machine;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view, on enlarged scale, taken on line 66 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view on enlarged scale, taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged scale and more detailed view of a portion of FIG. 2, showing one form of voting spindle control interlocking arrangement therewith;

FIG. 9 is a fiagmentary sectional view taken on line 9-9 of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a view corresponding to FIG. 8 but showice ing an alternative voting spindle control interlock arrangement.

In some machines of the previous design, upon entering the machine the voter was required to manually set his preferred party selection lever, so that he could make subsequent vote selections only in his selected party such as either the Republican, Democratic, or some other party. However, in accordance with the present invention this requirement of a separate manual selection by the voter is eliminated. Upon closing of the privacy curtain he starts his voting operation simply by pulling down the lever corresponding to his first candidate choice, thereby automatically selecting his party preference and setting up and interlock system which restricts his further voting to within his selected party. Hence, it will be understood that the improved machine of the present invention reacts automatically to the voters preference, thereby simplifying the voting procedures while at the same time insuring that proper voting procedures are maintained in accordance with the applicable election codes. This operational simplification in turn results in overall increased capacity of the machine to accommodate the maximum number of voters, thereby effecting substantial investment and operational economies.

As shown in the drawing herewith the invention may be incorporated in a votingmachine including a basic frame structure comprising side walls 12-12 (FIG. 1) and top and bottom sills 14. A front panel plate 16 is carried by the frame structure to hang in vertically standing position thereon and in turn mounts the multiple banks of voting levers or selectors 18 and their associated mechanisms. FIGS. 1 and 4 by way of example only, show a typical ballot presentation involving a bank of three rows of voting selectors designated for the Democratic party and a bank of two rows of voting selectors designated for the Republican party; but it will be appreciated thatany other number of rows and/or combinations of selector designations may be provided as may be required for any given balloting problem.

It will also be understood that each selector 18 extends from a spindle 20 (FIGS. 3, 4) which journals in the front panel plate 16 and carries therebehind a crank arm 22. The arm 22 includes an actuator arm portion 24 which engages a voting counter (not shown) for preparing it to operate whenever the selector 18 is manually turned down by the voter. The arm 22 also includes a yoke-shaped hanger portion 26 (FIG. 4) from which the upper end of an interlock strap 28 suspends for actuation of an interlock channel as indicated generally at 30; as explained in detail in the earlier referenced patents.

As indicated at 32 '(FIGS. 1, 3, 4) card holders of channel form are mounted on the face of the panel 16 to extend horizontally across the voting format between the horizontal rows of voting levers, whereby candidate names and referendum question labels may be inserted in appropriate positions below the voting levers. Thus, the voter is instinctively guided to turn down the correct lever to point to and partially cover each label designating his choices. Also, as indicated at 34 (FIGS. 1, 4), the front panel plate 16 is apertured to provide openings through which the voter may write-in, On a paper sheet carried inside the machine, the name or names of candidates he may prefer over the candidates listed on the candidate labels, whenever such write-in privileges are available.

In the case of the voting machine construction as shown herein, arrangements are provided whereby two write-in votes may be cast in connection with any one vertical column of candidates, without additional interlock ar rangements; thereby doubling the write-in capacity of a given machine while still requiring use of only one writein paper ballot sheet. As illustrated herein these features 3 and advantages may be obtained by constructing the voting machine to include as indicated at 36 (FIGS. 1, 3) an identification card carried by a holder of channel form mounted to extend horizontally across the voting panel just below the line of write-in shutters. Hence, the machine custodian inserts an appropriate card having numbers printed thereon corresponding to numbers carried on the related office caption strips therebelow. As shown in FIG. 5, the write-in paper ballot is ruled lengthwise into segments corresponding width-wise to the write-in apertures, and the segments are numerically identified in correspondence with the office caption numbers presented below the write-in shutters. FIG. also indicates how a write-in vote will appear to the vote canvasser when the voter has elected to write-in his choice for the office- No. 2, by raising shutter No. 2 and writing-in the name of his preference. In primary elections each paper ballot entry will be further identified as to party afliliation as by means of a marginal punch device as illustrated at 38 (FIG. 3) which will be described in detail hereinafter.

As shown in FIG. 1, the front panel is apertured as indicated at 40 to provide a Window of such size as to permit writing-in a plurality of names, such as in connection with an election for President-Vice President and/ or for his electors. As shown at 34 the machine front panel is also formed with rectangular shaped windows through which a voter may write-in single personal choice names on a write-in ballot sheet as indicated at 44 (FIGS. 3, 4, 5). These write-in apertures are disposed above each vertical column of voting levers and are obliquely disposed as shown to render the writing-in operation more convenient to the voter. As shown in the drawing herewith, each window is provided with a pair of shutters as indicated at 46, 48; the shutters 46 in the drawing herewith being unlined and showing white, while the shutters 48 are lined to show dark to facilitate shutter identification. It is to be understood however, that each aperture may accommodate only one write-in entry.

As shown herein each shutter 48 connects through an interlock strap system to the main interlock channel 30 (FIGS. 2, 4, 6). This strap system includes an upper strap 50 (FIGS. 2, 4), to which is riveted a lower strap 52 which terminates at its lower end in a wedge portion 54 (FIG. 4) engaged in the interlock channel 30. Hence, it will be understood that each write-in shutter will be operationally interlocked in association with its corresponding voting lever interlock strap 28, as shown in FIGS. 2, 4, to prevent overvoting. The machine also includes the conventional strap restoring or return bar as shown at 58 (FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 6) which passes through apertures in all of the interlock straps, which serves to restore all interlock straps to home position at the end of the voting cycle.

When a voter first enters the machine the main operating control lever 60 (FIG. 1) stands at the left hand position on the voting unit. He moves this handle to the right to set up the machine for voting: the return bar 58 being thereby shifted to its uppermost position whereby the voting lever interlock straps and the write-in shutters and their interlock straps are all freed for vertical displacements. The voter than makes his voting selections by turning down the appropriate voting levers and/or by opening appropriate shutters and writing in his preferred selections under control of the interlock systems as explained hereinabove.

Then, to register his selections and to exit from the machine the voter pulls the master control lever 60 towards the left as viewed in FIG. 1. During the initial stage of this lever motion the counter mechanisms are actuated in accordance with the voting lever selections; and then further progress of the master control lever 60 towards the left drives the lower return 'bar 58 to move down and to return the voting levers and interlock and shutter straps to home positions. Also, during the last phase of travel of the lever 60 a ratchet type linkage system as indicated at 62 (FIG. 3) will cause the mechanism to operate for advancing the write-in ballot sheet 44 thereby restoring the machine in preparation for the next voter.

A party primary control bar (FIGS. 1-4, 6-10) is .slidably supported on the panel 16 to extend horizontally below each row of voting spindles and is notched as indicated at 72 to receive pins 75 (FIG. 4) which are selectively insertab'le in crank arm portions 76 of the voting lever units whereby to operatively interconnect any desired voting lever or levers with its related party control bar 70, as may be prescribed by the ballot format. The parts are so arranged that turning of any voting lever (which is connected to its bar 70) will cause the bar 70 to shift horizontally. It will be understood that each crank arm 76 includes a stud 77 (FIGS. 8, 9, 10) for engagement in the associated notch portion of the corresponding bar 70 to operably interconnect the parts.

Corresponding to each party row bar 70 a control spindle 76 (FIGS. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) is carried by panel 16 in operative engagement with the party bar so as to be rotated in response to lateral shifts of the bar. Each spindle 76 carries a rocker arm 78 (FIGS. 1, 2, 6, 8, 10) connecting at one end to a control strap 79 which hooks at its lower end with the return bar 58 (FIG. 4). At its other end each rocker arm 78 carries a monitoring stud 80 (FIGS. 2, 8, 10) for connection to tie straps as indicated at 82-84 if and when needed. As shown in FIG. 8, the tie straps 82-84 pivotally connect to the uppermost control spindle of each group, but have lost motion connections with the other spindles of that group. In vertical alignment with the control spindles 76 an auxiliary interlock channel module 86 (FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 6) is attached to the main channel 30 to receive auxiliary straps 87 depending from the control straps 79 when required according to the dic- To program the machine, for example in accordance with the ballot arrangement shown in FIG. 1, and to permit secret Primary voting, the custodian will interconnect the control spindles 76 of the top three rows by means of the tie strap 82 and will interconnect thenext two spindles by a tie strap 84. Also, he will hang auxiliary straps 87 from the control straps 79 of spindles numbered 1 and 5; thereby limiting the voter to make selections in only one of the Party groups. When the voter makes his initial selection Within either Party group by turning any voting lever 18 he automatically selects his Party group, and activates the interlocks described hereina'bove and prevents his voting outside this group.

Should the voter inadvertently turn a Wrong party spindle or change his mind and wishes to reselect another Party, he may do so by pulling down on a retractor knob 90 (FIGS. 1, 4, 7) which drives a comb bar 92 (FIGS. 2, 4, 7, 8) down against the action of a return spring 94 (FIG. 2). The comb bar is formed with cam surfaces engaging studs 96 carried by each primary bar 70 to restore the latter and all previously selected candidate levers and controls to home positions. The voter is now free to commence his voting operation anew.

To cause write-in selections to be properly identified as to party affiliation, a perforator control bar 98 (FIGS. 2, 4, 8, 10) is slidably mounted alongside a side bar 100 (FIGS. 2, 8, 10) which shifts vertically in response to movements of the master control lever 60. The bar'98 is connected to the side bar 100 by means of a lostmotion stud and slot device as indicated at 102 (FIGS. 2, 8) so that whenever the side bar rises (upon motion of lever 60) it forces the perforator control bar 98 to rise also. At its top end the 'bar 98 bears upwardly against a pivot arm 104 (FIGS. 2, 4) which bears upwardly against the bottom end of a strut 106 depending from a cam plate 108. Hence movement of lever 60 prepositions a perforator control bar 110 to become engaged with all of the punches 112. Bar 98 is'notched as shown at 114 (FIGS. 4, 8, 10) to receive studs 116 carried by primary bars 70 when the 'latter are displaced laterally in response to any voter selection within that party group.

If and when the voter lifts a write-in shutter to writein a voting selection, he automatically causes the paper ballot perforating mechanism to be engaged as explained hereinabove. However, upon turning of a voting lever 18 he will thereby automatic-ally select his party preference as described hereinabove. At the same time the lateral shifting of selected primary bar 70 will cause its stud 116 to draw into vertical supporting engagement with the corresponding notch 114 of bar 98. Then upon completion of his voting cycle, restoration of lever 60 to the left will permit bar 98 to lower to a degree corresponding to the position of the blocking primary bar, thereby causing the perforation bar 110 to withdraw to an appropriate degree so as to set the perforator to punch the paper 'ballot with the appropriate number of perforations, according to the party group selected. A spring as indicated at 118 (FIG. 2) is provided to maintain the members 98-104-106-108 in relative bearing relationships throughout their operations.

As shown by way of further example in FIG. 10, the machine may be readily programmed to accommodate an entirely different ballot requirement, such as whenever the ballot requires presentation of an unusual number of voting lever columns on the machine. In such case two or more banks of voting levers and ofiice designations must be presented to the voter. Thus, as shown in FIG. 10, party A candidates may for example be assigned to rows 1 and party B candidates to rows 2 and 6; and so on. Then to complete the appropriate interlock arrangements tie straps 120, 121, 122 are interconnected between the studs 80 of the rocker arm 78 of rows 1 and 5, and of rows 2 and 6, and rows 3 and 7, respectively, and so on, as shown in the drawing herewith. To complete the interlocking arrangement auxiliary straps 87 (FIG. 6) are attached to control straps 79 at positions 1, 2, 3, to engage in the auxiliary interlock control 86.

Thus it will be appreciated that the machine may be easily and quickly reprogrammed at any time by the machine custodian to suit the machine to a large variety of secret and automatically selected party choices and/ or ofiices, as may be prescribed by various ballot requirements.

What is claimed as my invention is:

1. In a voting machine having a face panel,

a plurality of rows of candidate levers on said face panel,

a party primary control bar slidably mounted on said face panel in parallel association with each of said plurality of rows of candidate levers, said party primary control bars being movable between first and second positions,

interlock means connected to said party primary control bars and actuated in response to movement of at least one of said party primary control bars from its first position to its second position to prevent movement of at least some of the other party primary control bars,

connector means for selectively interconnecting any of said candidate levers in a row to its corresponding party primary control bar as required by a primary ballot format, said connector means being operable to shift the associated party primary control bar from its first to its second position in response to actuation of the interconnected candidate lever, thereby permitting a voter automatically to select his party choice upon making his initial candidate selection without publicly declaring his party affiliation.

2. A voting machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein a paper ballot strip is provided, and means for exposing successive increments thereof are available to the voter for writing-in his personal choice vote selections on said paper ballot strip, a ballot strip marking device under control of said party primary control bar for automatically marking each write-in vote on said paper ballot strip with a party afliliation identification.

3. In a voting machine having a face panel, a plurality of rows of candidate levers on said face panel, a party primary control bar slidably mounted on the face panel in parallel association with each row of levers, means for selectively interconnecting any of said levers to its corresponding control bar as required by the primary ballot format, means operably interconnecting each said control bar with an interlock means, thereby permitting the voter to automatically select his party choice upon making his initial candidate selection without publicly declaring his party affiliation While automatically setting up interlocks to limit all of his candidate selections to within the selected party only, and a manually operable vote selection retraction device to permit the voter to restore a previously shifted party primary control bar to its home position thereby restoring all voted levers and said interlock mechanism to inoperative conditions.

4. In a voting machine having a face panel, a plurality of rows of candidate levers on said face panel, a party primary control bar slidably mounted on the face panel in parallel association with each row of levers, means for selectively interconnecting any of said levers to its corresponding control bar as required by the primary ballot format, means opera'bly interconnecting each said control bar with an interlock means, there'by permitting the voter to automatically select his party choice upon making his initial candidate selection without publicly declaring his party afiiliation while automatically setting up interlocks to limit all of his candidate selections to within the selected party only, and an interconnect device to adapt the machine to a ballot format wherein more than one row of voting levers are assigned to a single party, said interconnect device comprising means coupling party-associated of said party primary control bars to said interlock system so that the initial vote selection on any party-associated row of voting levers will automatically set up the interlock system so as to prevent subsequent voting of levers outside of the party group.

5. In a voting machine having a face panel, a plurality of rows of candidate levers on said face panel, a party primary control bar slidably mounted on the face panel in parallel association with each row of levers, means for selectively interconnecting any of said levers to its corresponding control bar as required by the primary ballot format, means opera'bly interconnecting each said control bar with an interlock means, there-by permitting the voter to automatically select his party choice upon making his initial candidate selection without publicly declaring his party affiliation While automatically setting up interlocks to limit all of his candidate selections to within the selected party only, the ofiice designations and party-affiliated candidates appearing in a plurality of alternatively disposed rows, an interconnect device provided to comprise means operatively coupling together alternative party primary control bars so as to shift in consonance upon the initial vote selection where-by only one interlock connection device for each party is required to prevent subsequent voting of levers outside of the party group.

6. In a voting machine having a face panel and a plurality of rows of candidate levers on said face panel,

in which different rows are assigned to different political parties, the improvement comprising,

a political party control bar slidably mounted in association with each row of levers, interlock means actuated in response to movement of the first moved one of said control bars to block movement of the remainder ofthe bars excepting those which may be associated with the political party to which the first moved bar is assigned, and means for shifting each control bar in response to actuation of any of the candidate levers in its associated row and including mechanism for preventing candidate lever actuation except incidental and subsequent to shifting of the associated bar whereby selected actuation of the first candidate lever restricts subsequent voting to the political party with which the selected candidate is associated.

7. In a voting machine having a face panel provided with a plurality of rows of candidate levers in which ditferent rows are assigned to difierent political parties, the improvement comprising,

interlock means connected to individual candidate levers for limiting voting within each political party,

and interlock means interconnecting the rows of candidate levers assigned to different political parties and actuated in response to actuation of the first selected candidate lever for limiting subsequent voting to that political party with which said first selected candidate lever is associated.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

S. A. WAL, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE PATENT OFFICE Washington, D.C. 20231 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 ,408 ,002 October 29 1968 Afton Virgil Martin It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2, line 14, "and" should read an Column 4,

line 35, after "dic-" Signed and sealed this 10th day of March 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents insert tates of a given primary ballot.

WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR.

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