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Re: New Generation AccuVote - AT Improvements (Printers)
><< Would it be reasonable for the poll workers
to take the one or more
>external printers around to eachAT in
turn to print out the results? >>
>
>I think this would be possible in the precinct. What I'm
wondering about is
>when we are testing hundreds of units and we want
to test a line of 20 or 40
>units at the same time, would using
external printers be effective. Maybe
>it's better in
fact. I'm simply encouraging the development team to think
>about the testing phase as well as the election day
focus.
External Thermal
Printer
Steve Ricke has found a handheld
thermal printer that is battery powered (7.2VDC) and prints 52 characters per
line and has an Infra-red (IrDa) Interface or a RS-232C modular jack serial
interface. Its dimensions are 6" x 6" x 2-1/2" with the
paper holder and weighs less than a pound. Its the Seiko DPU-3445 and it
is already Windows CE and Windows 95/98 compatible. The retail cost starts
at $242 (with battery and is currently available. It prints at a speed
of 2.0 inches per second on a 4 inch wide paper stock. It can print
8000 lines on a single charge.
Some of its
benefits/disadvantages:
- requires special
paper
- the life expectency of the report isn't
as long as an ink report
- it has the IrDa interface which means
ease of use (no cables). I don't think printing reports on an IR link
can be construed as a security concern (as opposed to uploading
results)
- its light and
portable
Printing Report Data
Question: Do we
want to print a results report from each machine at the end of the election day
or do we want to group the election results on one machine and print one report
that reflects how that particular precinct voted (like the AccuVote does).
I know the polling sites I have visited during election nights were always keen
on seeing that report. Besides, they had to post the report as well on the
door or window of the polling place.
Another
Question: How's that going to work with five DRE's each
producing a report. Wouldn't they have to post all five reports on the
window?
Say we want to accumulate the
results from each machine onto one machine (i.e., a poll book) and print the
results report from that poll book, wouldn't it make sense to have that
same printer equipped machine print the zero totals tapes? Would anybody doubt
that the zero totals actually came from each machine? I'd say that if
somebody pointed an IrDa printer at an AccuVote-TS and printed a zero totals
tape or a results tape, I'd wonder about the integrity. It could be
perceived that the tapes were generated inside the printer box and not from the
AccuVote-TS. Maybe we ought to stick with the cable attached option just
for sake of perception.
AccuVote /AccuVote-TS Common
Design Features
Question: Aren't we
trying to design this AccuVote-TS with a common base that can also be used for
the Accu-Vote? If that is the case, then we want an internal printer in
every AccuVote because every AccuVote needs to print zero totals. I guess
that kills the idea of an external printer unless for election prep, you want to
allow the system to print on an external printer. But if you do that then
you wouldn't be testing the internal printer that would be used on election
day.
Conclusion
I have now convinced myself (regardless
answers you might give to my questions above) that the above is drivel and
rambling because I have also convinced myself that we must design in the space
required to house an internal printer even if we don't install it. You can
have the internal printer installed as an option for AccuVote-TS and use an
external printer instead, but why bother if you've already got the space
available for an internal printer and there really is no cost justification for
the external printer over the internal printer.
So, in the words of Rosanna Rosanna
Danna, "Never mind".
Ian