Prototype Ballot Generator Instructions


There are two modes of operation for the Ballot Generator:

  1. You can use the controls in the left pane to define the marks to be placed on the ballot in the right pane
    1. Select the mark you want to place on the ballot
    2. Enter a scale factor for the mark in the form of a decimal (0.5 for half size, 1.0 for full size, etc)
    3. Enter the rotation of the mark in integer degrees. Positive values rotate the mark clockwise while negative values rotate the mark counterclockwise
    4. Use the sliders or type in the desired RGB values to choose a color for the mark
    5. Click the ballot in the right pane were you would like the mark to be placed
    6. Repeat the process for any additional marks
    7. Previously placed marks can be editied or deleted in the table that appears below the controls
    8. Clicking the Run Generator button returns the results in PDF and tiff format and also provides a markup file that can be saved and uploaded at a later time to generate the same results

  2. You can upload a previously created markup file that contains the specifications for the marks to be placed on the ballot in the format: clp scale=1.2 rotate=20 rgb=255,0,0 c=945,1255 check_2.DL.tif 0,20 99,99
    1. scale, rotate, and rgb are described above
    2. c=X,X are the ballot coordinates where the center of the mark will be placed
    3. check_2.DL.tif is the filename of the mark image and the following two coordinates are the upper left and lower right corners of the portion of the mark image to use
    4. Clicking the Run Generator button returns the results in PDF and tiff format

Click here to run the prototype ballot generator (login required). This web application was developed by Nick Hinnerschitz, a Lehigh undergraduate working with Dan Lopresti.



PERFECT is an acronym that stands for "Paper and Electronic Records for Elections: Cultivating Trust." PERFECT is a multidisciplinary research effort aimed at studying the reliable processing of paper ballots and other hardcopy election records. Participating institutions include Lehigh University, Boise State University, Muhlenberg College, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Click here to return to the PERFECT homepage.
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 PERFECT is funded in part by the National Science Foundation under award numbers NSF-0716368, NSF-0716393, NSF-0716647, NSF-0716543. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this website are the investigators' and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Science Foundation.