News

AskED®Now Used in Seven States!

California has become the seventh state to benefit from AskED. Monterey County, California implemented the AskED Help Desk throughout the County.

In addition to California, jurisdictions have also purchased AskED in Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, New York, Virginia and Washington and are experiencing wonderful benefits in logging and tracking every call, troubleshooting on the spot, and creating comprehensive reports of voting-machine incidents and other Election-Day issues.

SEQUOIA VOTING SYSTEMS AND ROBIS ELECTIONS, INC. ANNOUNCE ALLIANCE TO OFFER COMPREHENSIVE ELECTION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT AND TRAINING SOLUTIONS

Partnership will enhance Sequoia’s product offerings to election officials nationwide and expand Robis’ presence in the elections marketplace OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA / WHEATON, IL – August 9, 2007 – Oakland-based Sequoia Voting Systems, a leading supplier of comprehensive election solutions, and Wheaton, Illinois-based Robis Elections Inc., a well-known and respected election technology support and training solutions company, are proud to announce their alliance to provide election technology support and training solutions to voting jurisdictions throughout the United States. Robis has been assisting election jurisdictions with innovative election products and services for over 16 years and will now be working with Sequoia Voting Systems to offer these proven and efficient election tools to election officials throughout the country. “I am very pleased to announce Sequoia’s alliance with Robis Elections, Inc.,” said Jack A. Blaine, president of Sequoia Voting Systems. “Robis, like Sequoia, is a very innovative company that has used its technology prowess and elections expertise to develop unique and highly effective solutions to help election officials with the many tasks of conducting elections – from their AskED® Election Decision Support System™ for PocketPC and laptop computers to their online training offerings and election Help Desk solution.”

Sequoia now provides the entire suite of six AskED products to jurisdictions. These products are: The AskED Problem Solver, AskED Pollbook, AskED Lite, AskED Help Desk, AskED Online Pollworker Training, and The AskED Early Voting/Vote Centers System.

The “ED” in AskED stands for “election decision.” The patent-pending decision support system within AskED products gives election workers—pollworkers in the polling place and operators in the call center—the answers to pressing Election-Day questions, right when they need the information. AskED gives election officials the peace of mind that comes from knowing that pollworkers and operators are communicating accurate, consistent information to voters and colleagues—with a minimum of training on the easy-to-operate system.

Sequoia is now offering the following AskED products around the nation:

The AskED Problem Solver not only looks up each voter as needed, but also guides the pollworker in the correct use of that information so that every vote can be counted. AskED directs voters to the right place, provides on-board searchable help (including thorough videos to guide the pollworkers in setting up and using their voting machines properly), and uses a set of simple “yes-or-no” questions to always guide the pollworker to the right action to process each voter accurately. The Problem Solver ensures that even the most complicated voter-eligibility circumstances are handled professionally and consistently by the pollworkers.

The AskED Pollbook includes all of the Problem Solver’s features. In addition, the AskED Pollbook electronically stores the voter history in every precinct, saving the jurisdiction days or weeks of work after the election to record who has voted in the voter registration system. The Pollbook also has capabilities to compare and/or capture signatures right on the device, and for barcode scanning of a voter’s driver’s license or state ID for quick, efficient lookup.

AskED Early Voting is a complete solution for recording voter history, preventing double voting, and maintaining the integrity of the early voting process. It includes the same patent-pending Election Decision Support System as the Problem Solver and Pollbook.

AskED Online Pollworker Training is a robust, flexible system for jurisdictions to use for training pollworkers over the Web. It includes powerful reporting features so that election officials can see who has and has not completed training and how well the pollworkers are learning the material. The software also sends out automatic reminder e-mails to workers who have not completed training. AskED Online Pollworker Training includes web hosting and initial curriculum development, as well as a unique, flexible editing suite so that jurisdictions can then make their own changes and additions to the curriculum.

The powerful AskED Help Desk gives top-level election officials complete oversight of what is happening on Election Day. It tracks and reports every call, showing resolution time, and provides a bird’s eye view of all outstanding issues. The Help Desk enables operators to solve problems using the same AskED logic as the Problem Solver and Pollbook, and provides for instant escalation of unresolved issues to managers, troubleshooters, rovers, dispatchers or other specialists. Robis currently maintains very satisfied customers of its products and services in five states including: Illinois, New York, Washington, Florida and California.

DuPage County, Illinois began using the AskED Election Decision Support System in preparation for the March 2005 primary election in Illinois.

State and federal laws forced many election jurisdictions in Illinois – and throughout the country - to make sweeping changes in equipment and procedures for their primary election. Changes included the first-time implementation of Early Voting, the introduction of new electronic voting equipment, changes to absentee voting procedures and more. For Election Day workers who work on elections only one or two days per year, these changes can be overwhelming.

“It’s like having an election expert in every polling place!” said Robert Saar, Executive Director of the DuPage Election Commission in Dupage County, Illinois when speaking of Robis’ AskED.

As in all elections, the success of the election depends on the thousands of election workers who handle the check-in of voters in addition to setting up and monitoring the election equipment. These election workers are regular citizens who only deal with election issues one or two days per year and yet must handle any problems that arise on Election Day. When they make mistakes, votes don’t get counted.

“At Robis, we have spent a lot of time examining the real-world challenges that our nation’s election officials face,” said David Davoust, President of Robis Elections, Inc. “We used this first-hand insight and our strong technology group to design specific tools to assist election officials, their staff and pollworkers in conducting accurate and reliable elections.”

“Elections are very, very complex,” continued Davoust. “We are excited to now be working together with Sequoia as their focus on continuous evolution in voting technology and strong customer support in all aspects of an election goes hand-in-hand with the type of work Robis has been doing for well-over a decade. Together we believe we can help make elections run smoother for all election officials.”

About Robis Elections

Robis has been assisting the election industry with innovative election products and services for over 16 years. Robis is a Microsoft ISV Partner and provides technology solutions and election security consulting to election jurisdictions and other election vendors. Robis’ Election products and services also include the well-regarded AskED® Election Decision Support System suite of products.

AskED is Robis Election’s patent-pending software which runs on handheld PocketPCs or on laptops. In addition to providing “just in time” help information to election workers, the device contains all of the state’s election logic related to voter eligibility. By simply asking and answering a few questions, the election worker can quickly determine the correct ballot and procedure for each voter so that each vote is processed correctly. The unit has the ability to “speak” in alternate languages so that election workers are better able to help non-English speaking voters. AskED was created to help election workers handle any issue that might arise on Election Day.

About Sequoia Voting Systems

Sequoia Voting Systems is an American company, based in Oakland, California with a 100-year history of providing accurate, reliable, state-of-the-art voting solutions dating back to the nation's first lever-based mechanical voting equipment in the 1890s. Sequoia provides election technology, services and support to state and local governments including precinct-based optical scan ballot readers, high-speed central count optical scan ballot readers, ballot layout and printing services, and full-face and paginating electronic voting equipment with optional printers that produce voter verified paper records. Sequoia’s voting equipment is used by hundreds of jurisdictions throughout 16 states and the District of Columbia.

DuPage County Successfully Implements New Voting Technology with the Help of a Handheld Training Device Called "AskED™"

WHEATON, IL – State and federal laws forced many election jurisdictions in Illinois to make sweeping changes in equipment and procedures for the March 21st Primary Election. Changes included the first-time implementation of Early Voting, the introduction of new electronic voting equipment, changes to absentee voting procedures and more. For Election Day workers who work on elections only one or two days per year, these changes can be overwhelming. However, DuPage County was able to implement the new changes without major problems thanks, in part, to a handheld decision support and training device known as "AskED™". "It’s like having an expert in every polling place," reported Robert Saar, Executive Director of the DuPage Election Commission.

Background on the Problem
As in all elections, the success of the election depends on the thousands of election workers who handle the check-in of voters in addition to setting up and monitoring the election equipment. These election workers are normal citizens who only deal with election issues one or two days per year and yet must handle any problems that arise on Election Day. When they make mistakes, votes don’t get counted.

Being forced by federal and state law to throw so many changes and new technology at election workers at once can often end in disaster. In fact, several Illinois counties experienced many problems on Election Day which were largely blamed on a combination of equipment failures and lack of election worker training.

DuPage's Experience
DuPage County also implemented new electronic voting equipment in March in addition to Early Voting and the other election law changes. With many pollworkers being senior citizens, the idea of implementing new computerized voting equipment was met with some resistance. "Some of our pollworkers threatened to quit when we told them they needed to implement the new electronic voting technology," reported Doreen Nelson, Assistant Executive Director for the DuPage County Election Commission. However, the County was able to overcome these objections and successfully make all these changes in part due to another piece of technology called "AskED".

AskED is decision support and training software that runs on a handheld Pocket PC. The product, designed by Wheaton-based Robis Elections, Inc., provides the information election workers need right in the polling place. The device contains information on every voter in the county, every address, every precinct, every ballot style, etc. If a voter shows up at the wrong polling place, the AskED device enables the pollworker to direct the voter to his or her correct polling place. It even provides a map to the correct location.

In addition, AskED has a complete "Help" database which provides the election worker with guidance on any equipment problems or other issues that might come up. There are even a series of videos right on the handheld device which guide the election worker through the process of setting up the new election equipment, opening the polls, and closing the polls. There are also specific help topics and videos related to solving equipment problems that might arise. According to Robert Saar, "Not only can pollworkers use the decision support of AskED to help voters, it's a lot easier for a pollworker to solve an equipment problem by watching a video on their AskED handheld, than it is to try to explain detailed steps to them over the phone."

Election workers raved about having this information available to them in the polling place. Bruce from Winfield, who has been an election worker for years said, "It's fantastic. Anything you want is in here. It has solved a lot of problems, and it's fast."

Another election worker, Bob in West Chicago, reported, "It is a benefit to helping the public speed up their voting and helping us make our life easier to get ready to take care of them when they come in. Well today, for example, setting up the new voting machine we are using, we ran into a couple of situations where we weren’t clear on how to proceed on setting up the unit. We were able to go to the video here and that walked us through it."

About AskED
AskED™ was developed by Robis Elections, Inc. in Wheaton, IL. The patent-pending software which runs on handheld Pocket PC's or on laptops is currently in use in four states: Illinois, Florida, New York and Washington. In addition to providing "just in time" help information to election workers, the device contains all of the State’s election logic related to voter eligibility. By simply asking and answering a few questions, the election worker can quickly determine the correct ballot and procedure for each voter so that each vote is processed correctly. One feature not used by DuPage County is the ability for the unit to "speak" in alternate languages so that election workers are better able to help non-English speaking voters. AskED was created to help election workers handle any issue that might arise on Election Day.

July 2004: Robis has launched a web site service designed specifically for election jurisdictions. This complete content management system allows jurisdictions to get a web site up and running immediately and puts full control of content into the hands of the election staff. All changes are made in a simple web-based interface that requires no programming knowledge. Multiple user and approval levels help to keep the right information available at all times. Features include a dynamic calendar, contact pages, gallery pages, resources, FAQ's and even voter status and provisional ballot status lookups.