Proven Records & Facts of Interest
AVANTE assisted the Election Commissions of Uganda in the implementation of its Election Results Transmission and Dissemination System and Solution
AVANTE with local partner MFI implemented the Election Results Transmission and Dissemination System and Solution for the 2011 General Election in Uganda. The Election Commission is able to announce partial and cumulative results periodically and certify the results within 48 hours.
The EU observer commented: “The introduction of electronic transmission of results from district tally centers to the National Tally Centre marked a further improvement.”
AVANTE is part of the team that worked on the successful implementation of the Biometric Voter Registration System and Solution.
More than 70 million voters are registered with the use of voter registration systems that captured all 10 finger prints and the picture of the voters along with their demographic data. The verified voter lists are published in advance to ensure the transparency of the 2011 General Elections in Nigeria. The election results are generally considered as one of the most credible in the African continent and maybe the world.
AVANTE Patented and Implemented the First Anti-Counterfeit Automatic Ballot Counting OMR Solution with Accuracy of less than one error in 1,500,000 marks.
AVANTE Optical Scan solution was the first to meet the US 2002 Voting System Standards and achieved the highest accuracy of less than one error in 1,500,000 marks and security against tampering. They are used successfully in US elections since.
In 2008, AVANTE congratulated the commissioners and staff of COMELEC for their successful implementation of the first automated ballot counting, consolidation and peaceful election that used the OMR automatic ballot counting solution for five out of six provinces for the August 11, 2008 election in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) of the Philippines. The system successfully counted more than one million ballots with 100% accuracy and delivered the results in record time.
“We have set a few firsts in the recent elections,” Melo (Chairman of COMELEC) said. “The Comelec is slowly but surely shedding off its old image.” (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=128184). Highlights include:
- “The first fraud-free (ballot-counting) election in more than half a century;
- The first use of electronic voting and transmission of machines in a Philippine electoral exercise;
- The first time the ballot printing process was broadcast live over the Internet;”
“In addition to the electoral process achievements, the voting solution deployed in the Philippines represents the highest standard of election integrity and auditability in the world. The basic solution was certified for reliability by an Independent Testing Agent according to U.S. Voting Standard Guidelines and utilizes most of the innovations patented by AVANTE to solve all the potential issues of electronic voting,” Dr. Chung, CEO of AVANTE said. The ballots utilized proprietary anti-copying and counterfeit ballot prevention functions and were digitally captured for auditability.
Benefits of the credible election are starting to emerge. “Speaker Prospero Nograles yesterday asked newly re-elected Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and other ARMM officials who won “clean and clear” in recent fully automated ARMM elections, to use their overwhelming mandate to bring a just and lasting peace in Mindanao.” (http://www.visayandailystar.com/2008/August/18/negor4.htm)
AVANTE Patented and Implemented the First DRE with VVPR Achieving 0% Residual Votes
AVANTE initiated voting solutions and technological developments that have now become de-facto standards of the industry. The innovation covers all aspects of the election process. Some of our achievements:
- The first electronic voting system (Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) solution to be deployed with voter verified paper record audit trail.
- The first Voter Verified Paper Record (VVPR) made as cut-and-drop (not an end-to-end role!) preserving voter privacy.
- The first voting system to achieve 0% residual votes achieving 0% unintentional under-votes.
Patented and Implemented the First Paging DRE with VOTER VERIFIED PAPER RECORD (VVPR) and Unparalleled Security Against Tampering
AVANTE’s DRE and VVPR are the first systems to incorporate:
- Voter ballot tamper proof access cards have randomly generated ballot access codes rather than an easily duplicated single “key” card.
- The first voting system (DRE or optical) to use write-once-read-many CD-Rs to prevent data corruption and tampering.
Patented and Implemented the First FULL-FACE DRE WITH VOTER VERIFIED PAPER RECORD (VVPR) Trusted by Voters Over All Other Solutions
AVANTE introduced the full-face touch-screen voting system and voter verified paper record found to be the system perceived by voters as easiest to use with the highest confidence in accurately recording voters’ choices.
Patented and Implemented the First OPTICAL SCAN SOLUTION with Digital Image Auditing and 0 Errors in 1,500,000 Marks
AVANTE also introduced optical ballot solutions that achieve the following landmarks:
- The first optical scan system to achieve NO errors in 1,500,000 marks.
- The first optical scan system to obtain EAC 2002 VSS certification.
- The first optical scan system that captures the digital picture images of paper ballots as they are being read.
- It is the first system to provide an electronic “video” image used for auditing the paper ballot counting process.
Patented and Implemented Reliable BALLOT MARKING DEVICE (BMD)
AVANTE patented and implemented the industry’s most reliable “Ballot Marking Device” fully integratable with precinct-based and absentee paper ballot systems. The accessible BMD has been used in New York State with rave reviews.
AVANTE patented verifiable voting solutions with proven accuracy are configured with commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware of computers, printers, and document imaging scanners with flexibility to accommodate election and voting methods of:
- Counting voters marked ballots in precinct under public observation
- Counting voters marked ballots in counting centers with specific and limited precincts under public observation
- Counting voter marked and mailed-in ballots in central counting headquarters under public observation
- Counting ballots marked by automatic “ballot-marking-devices” under public observation
- Automatic “ballot marking devices” as “direct recording electronics”(DRE) with “voter-verified paper ballots”
These patented solutions are developed and proven with the most stringent accuracy and integrity requirements in mind to accommodate the spectrum of complex elections in USA, South America and others as well as more common and simpler parliamentary and presidential elections in Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia.
(US Patents: 7,635,088; 7,635,087; 7,614,553; 6,892,944; 7,036,730; 7,077,313; 7,422,150; 7,431,209; 6,973,581; 7,197,167; and pending patents: 11/709,449; and others)