Streamline Election Operations With the INDICIUM Agility Platform

An individual exercising their right to vote is one of our society’s most powerful and critical civic duties. Going to the polls on election day isn’t the only way to engage with the process anymore. Increasingly, elections supervisors have expanded access to voting by mail nationwide. Some states even mail ballots to all eligible registered voters. The INDICIUM Agility Platform is the ideal automation solution for offices handling mail ballots.

Voters expect more than a convenient way to vote. They also expect their votes to remain secure and counted promptly. In significant elections with high turnout, processing mail-in ballots can prove costly and time-consuming. Investing in a modern automation solution designed to tackle those concerns directly means getting results and seeing clear value from the investment in every election cycle.

Consider what difficulties election offices must address and see how INDICIUM delivers results.

The Challenges of Modern Voting Counting

Successfully processing mail-in ballots involves overcoming several potential logistical hurdles. In some jurisdictions, the law allows election staff to tabulate mail ballots immediately upon arrival or drop-off. In other places, tabulation can’t begin until polls close on election day. The need to process numerous ballots rapidly creates an immediate bottleneck in such areas.

Other challenges election offices encounter include:

• The slow, complex nature of matching and verifying signatures on ballots versus registration records.
• The need to alert voters whose ballots weren’t accepted.
• It is necessary to cross-reference additional information with voter records to confirm accuracy.

To address these issues, better technology designed for rapid processing is essential. INDICIUM is that solution.

Introducing the INDICIUM Platform

Built using the intelligent workflow automation platform Tungsten TotalAgility, INDICIUM is a solution that provides support for mail-in ballot processing from arrival to the final validation stage. Created by BizTech Solutions, INDICIUM can transform how an elections office counts votes virtually overnight. Installation and configuration are so simple that an organization could go live the same day.

INDICIUM works to ingest ballot information, conduct signature verification, and move the ballot along in the workflow for tabulation. Exceptions automatically enter a queue for further action or notifying the relevant voter. The platform scales easily, supporting elections at every level. Rapidly process as few as 10,000 ballots or scale up to 10 million or even more. Smooth integration with your voter registration system ensures immediate access to the most relevant data for verifying signatures.

With INDICIUM, you never need to worry about downtime. Even without an online connection, INDICIUM continues to function and process signatures. Training elections staff on using the system is simple, too; most users are up to speed within two hours of learning.

How Does Indicium Work in Practice?

Consider an example of how INDICIUM works as you scan ballot envelopes into the system.

Step 1. An elections worker feeds the sealed envelopes with a voter’s signature into scanning hardware. As data ingestion begins, INDICIUM steps in. Cognitive capture capabilities from TotalAgility handle the scanned images and optimize them to produce data ready for automated processing. This step ensures consistent, good scan quality across ballots.

Step 2. A handwriting recognition process executes to validate the signature on the ballot against signatures of record. INDICIUM uses seven unique verifiers to analyze signatures for matches and can even pair signatures that may have changed subtly over time. Ballots with approved signatures move forward in the system automatically.

Step 3. If the system detects a mismatched signature, the ballot automatically receives a unique identifier to facilitate tracking. INDICIUM intelligently routes mismatched signatures to human election workers for additional scrutiny.

Most errors are simple clerical problems that may not ultimately invalidate an individual’s vote. Many election offices allow voters with rejected ballots to “cure” their vote to correct the issues that caused a rejection. INDICIUM automatically creates personalized cure letters featuring a barcode tied to the ballot’s unique identifier. These letters simplify the process and provide a timelier notification to voters about the opportunity to cure a ballot.

Step 4. Accepted and cured ballots move forward in your system for additional processing.

It’s fast, simple, reliable, and secure—everything an election team needs.

Exploring the Advantages of Automated Ballot Processing

With the thorough process outlined above, election officials can count on a more competent, faster system that delivers the quick results voters expect today. INDICIUM provides a host of benefits to users. Alongside being easy to set up and simple to learn, this platform has other advantages, which include:

• Real-time dashboards. Get insights into the counting process, rejected ballots and more with information you can visualize at a glance.
• Full audit trails and in-depth reporting capabilities. Demonstrate the integrity of your processes when it’s simple to produce a complete record of how ballots underwent processing and counting.
• Cost savings are derived from a reduced reliance on manual counting workflows.
• Highly advanced encryption and security authentication protocols based on today’s best practices prevent voter fraud and preserve public trust in elections.

Expanding opportunities to vote via mail ballots can result in a more engaged electorate and better turnout. Embrace a system such as INDICIUM and capably balance the need for speed and security.

Discover Ways to Accelerate Counting and Improve Operations

Efficient operations are a must-have for those supervising elections. When counting the votes, achieving an accurate and complete count demands thoroughness and attention to detail. Instead of signature verification being a significant bottleneck to prompt results, we’ve seen that automation can effectively accelerate that process while maintaining the necessary high level of integrity.

The INDICIUM Agility Platform is a valuable asset for elections supervisors and one worth exploring today. It’s also just one example of the range of innovative solutions available for workflow automation on the Tungsten Marketplace. Find out more about INDICIUM and connect with BizTech for additional information today.