election

election.com Launches Touch Screen Voting Software at Poll Sites As Part of End-to-End Election Management Solution—Election Systems Manager

ESM Addresses Election Administrator Wish Lists

Garden City, NY, February 5, 2001 - election.com, the leading global election services company, today announced the development of an end-to-end election management solution -- Election Systems ManagerTM (ESM, v. 3.0) software -- that will enable election administrators to conduct secure, auditable, reliable elections on touch screen devices while reducing costs and increasing the speed of tabulation.

“Voters deserve a system that they can trust, that tabulates their votes accurately, and that is easy and intuitive to use. Counties deserve a system that they can afford and that makes their jobs easier instead of more difficult,” Joe Mohen, CEO of election.com , said. “ESM 3.0 is a solution that will save the taxpayers money, simplify the process for election officials, and, most importantly, safeguard the sanctity of each and every vote.”

ESM 3.0 will provide election officials with a fully integrated, comprehensive solution for managing the election process from beginning to end, including modular voter file and election management applications. ESM 3.0 will also directly address the needs of the voter.

	The software automates the many tasks required to run an elections office. Included in the software's many features are: comprehensive voter file management, election management tools, such as polling place and poll worker recruiting and management, candidate and campaign tracking and qualification, and ballot definition and election results reporting. The system also provides integrated signature and document imaging, customizable report libraries, and configurable workflow components to streamline daily tasks.
	Counties can enable voters to fill out a voter registration form or absentee ballot request on their web sites. When voters download, sign, and send in the form, the county voter file is automatically populated – including a digitized image of the voter’s signature – simply by batch-scanning the form. This feature eliminates significant data entry by counties and minimizes inaccuracies in the voter file, while extending the convenience of the Internet to voters. The software will also enable voters to find a polling place, download an election calendar and view sample ballots and election results.
	The software enables counties to conduct secure, auditable elections on touch-screen computers at polling places. The integrated voter file enables voters to vote at any poll site within the county. At the same time, it ensures that each voter is delivered the appropriate ballot and prevents any voter from voting more than once.
	Election officials may choose to enable overseas military voters to cast their absentee ballots over the Internet, with proper authentication and security measures.
	The software can be delivered to counties through the Internet or via Local Access Network (LAN) and accessed through a simple web-browser interface. This reduces the cost of delivery, installation, upgrade, and support, and makes it possible for poorer or less populous counties to purchase the same high-quality technology that wealthier, more populous counties can buy.
	Ability to network statewide (via LAN or the Internet) each county voter file in real time to increase database accuracy while reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

Election Systems Manager was previously known as Voter and Election Management System (VEMS). The current version of ESM is installed in 170 counties in ten different states, including Franklin County (Columbus), Ohio, El Paso County, Texas, and Shelby County (Memphis), Tennessee.

ESM is also the only truly statewide solution currently in existence. In both Arkansas and Minnesota, the Secretary of State’s office and each and every county in the state uses the ESM solution. The Minnesota system – which uses a closed computer network hosted by the Secretary of State and gives every county simultaneous live access to the state voter rolls – has been heralded as a model for other states to follow.

The enhanced ESM 3.0, generally available in the 2nd Quarter of 2001, will meet the highest standards of accessibility for people with disabilities. While much of the ESM package is administrative in nature and does not require certification, election.com will submit for certification the components that deal directly with voting and vote tabulation in the coming months. New certification standards for voting systems are currently being developed by the Federal Election Commission’s Office of Election Administration and the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED).

About election.com
election.com Inc., the leading global election software and services company, provides complete election management solutions - voter registration and database management, polling site and remote electronic voting, advanced security solutions, accurate tabulation and custom demographic reporting -- for public and private sector entities around the world. With its world-class team of election experts, election.com is uniquely positioned to help its clients navigate the complexities of the election process from start to finish. Named one of the top-50 privately held companies in the world by Red Herring magazine, election.com (www.election.com) has offices in the United States (Garden City, N.Y., Washington, D.C., Austin, TX, Chicago, IL, and Fayetteville, AR); Europe (London; Paris; Geneva, and Dublin) and the Asia-Pacific (Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and Christchurch, New Zealand.)

Jason Howard
election.com
516.248.7502

Kate O’Shaughnessy
Ketchum
202.835.9415

On January 1, 2001 Andersen Consulting’s name was changed to Accenture. Since August 7, 2000 Accenture has not been associated with Andersen Worldwide or Arthur Andersen.