US3846718A - Voting machine with punch card attachment - Google Patents

Abstract

A compact, lightweight, manually operated voting machine with provisions for straight ticket, selective and write-in voting, and for choosing two or more candidates from a list of several running at large; with provision for recording each voter''s choice on a punch card for computer counting, and including a mechanical counter automatically totalling the votes for each candidate for confirmation of the punch card count.

Description

United States Patent [191 3,846,718 ONeal 1 *Nov. 5, 1974 1 1 VOTING MACHINE WITH PUNCH CARD 698,450 4/190; glapper 53284 x 1,015,619 1 191 eming.... 3 84 X ATTACHMENT 1,161,368 11/1915 Wyman 234/84 X Inventor: b n O ea Arllngton, 1,680,054 8/1928 Lebeis 234/91 Tex. 3,094,277 6/1963 Wilcoxma. .235/50 R f [731 Assignee Riverside Dallas, 331931233 31132? i%ii?if...ij.... 33:: 3321225 1 Notice: The Portion of the term of this gg z i2 patent subsequent to Aug. 1, 1989, r e has been disclaimed 3,468,477 9/1969 Gray, Jr. 235/50 R [22] Filed: 1971 Primary ExaminerJ. M. Meister [21] Appl. No.: 199,069 Attorney, Agent, or FirmHubbard, Thurman, Turner Related us. Application Data Tucker [62] Division of Ser. No. 35,671, May 8, 1970, Pat. No. 3,630,434, which is a division of Ser. No. 740,415, May 27, 1968, Pat. No. 3,524,969. [57] ABSTRACT A compact, lightweight, manually operated voting ma- [52] 234/1 234/116 235/50 chine with provisions for straight ticket, selective and 235/55 R write-in voting, and for choosing two or more candillil. Cl. dates from a list of Several running at l g i p Fleld 01 Search vision for recording each voters choice on a punch 234/102'105 235/50 card for computer counting, and including a mechani- 55 R ca] counter automatically totalling the votes for each h d References Cited candidate for confirmation of t e punch car count UNITED STATES PATENTS 11 Claims, 22 Drawing Figures 650,340' 5/1900 Royal et a1 234/84 X PATENTEllimv 5 m4 3.846718 WEE? 3 OF 5 FIG. [0A.

1 VOTING MACHINE WITH PUNCH CARD ATTACHMENT This is a division of application Ser. No. 035,671, filed May 8, 1970, now US. Pat. No. 3,630,434, which in turn isa division of application Ser. No. 740,415 filed May 27, 1968, now US. Pat. No. 3,524,969.

This invention relates to voting machines and is directed to improvements in the construction illustrated and described in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,168,240 Which was issued on Feb. 2, 1965. This application is a division of my copending application, Ser. No. 740,415, filed May 27, 1968.

My priorinventionaccomplished the object of listing candidates for more than one office in a single column, thus substantially reducing the weight andbulk in comparison to existing voting machines. It also employed a very compact selector mechanism, whereby but one vote out of each slate of candidatesis allowed, which helped to provide a relatively small and economical machine. My present invention further simplifies this selector mechanism by using standard steel balls instead of specially designed plungers which substantially reduce the cost of manufacture.

Another object of the invention is to improve the layout of the machine from the standpoint of reading and operation.

Another object of the invention is toprovide a voting machine which records each vote on a punch card for later computer counting and which also records every vote for each candidate on a mechanical counter which cannot be read untilthe ma'chine is unlocked after the election.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby a stated number of candidates can be selected from a larger list, for example, as in a city council election, where there are to be only three candidates elected out of a slate of ten.

These and other objects will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, in which: a f

FIG. 1 is a partly cut away plan view of one configuration of the machine.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged plan view showing the relation of the candidate'names and the voting keys.

FIG. 3 is a cut away plan view of a portion ofthe selector mechanism sectioned at various levels.

FIG. 4 is a similar view of a different portion of the selector mechanism.

FIG. 5 is an isometricview of a single voting key.

FIG. 6 is an isometric exploded view of two interlocking components of the selector mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a reversed isometric view of one of the components shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a side elevational, partly sectioned view of a portion of th e selector mechanism. FIG. 9 isa cross sectional view of the selector mechanism taken along 9-9 on FIG. 10.

FIG. 10 is a cut away isometric view of a portion of the selector mechanism concerned with voting for candidates at large.

FIG. 10A. is a diagram representing the function of part of the candidates at large mechanism.

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary cut away elevational view of the card'punch mechanism.

. FIG. 12 is a fragmentary bottom view of the part shown in FIG. 11.

4 FIG. 13 is an isometric cut away view of the punch pushrod bank.

FIG. 14 is an isometric fragmentary detail of a portion taken from FIG. 13.

FIG. 15-is an inverted plan view in part ,of the .elements involved in selection, straight ticket voting and resetting the machine.

FIG. 16 is a cross sectional view taken along line 16-16 of FIG. 15.

FIG. 17 is a fragmentary sectional view taken ,at the top of the machine showing a straight ticket key in elevation.

FIG. 18 is a plan view of a part .of the lower end of the straight ticket operating mechanism.

FIG. 19 is a side elevational view of apart .of the mechanical counter operating mechanism. 7

FIG. 20 is an isometric view of the voting lever and the linkages connected thereto.

FIG. 21 is a plan view of the resetting key including parts of the components it operates.

Referring now' to FIGS. 1 and 2, when fully assembled, the voting machine consists of several identical columnar units included in a frame 10, and each columnar unit 11 comprising a body 12, voting keys l3, and a cover card 14 on which are taped or printed the various offices and the candidates names. A cover plate 15 along the left side of the machine conceals the card punching mechanism hereinafter numbered and described, leaving a slot 16 for the insertion of the card. Additional cover plates 17 along the top of the machine and 18 along the bottom serve to make the mechanism inaccessible to tamperers and to hold the machine together.

A voting lever. 19 at the upper right hand corner of the machine is pulled toward the operator to register his vote. A re-setting key 20 is retained by an official at the voting booth and used to release the mechanism v after each vote is recorded, preparing the machine for the next voter.

The paired voting keys 21 along the top of the machine are for straight ticket voting as hereinafter described. The body 12 of each voting unit 11 contains apertures 22 through which mechanical counters, hereinafter described and numbered, can be read by removing the cover cards 14 when the machine is unlocked after the polls are closed. A key 23 fitting a standard tumbler lock (not shown) gives access to the inside of the machine and is retained by a qualified official at election headquarters. The candidate-atlarge selector mechanism index 24 is concealed by the lower cover plate 18 and must be adjusted at headquarters for each the plane of the slide election when the machines are assembled, as hereinafter described. I

Referring now to FIGS. 3 to 8, inclusive, the selector mechanism comprises, in multiple, the aforementioned voting key 13 shown complete in FIG. 5 and havinga vertical post 25 with a socket 26 at its lower end. A slide 27 extends horizontally from the post 25 and contains a hole 28 accurately machined sothat the periphery onthe far side is circular and the wall 29 of the hole opposite the post 25 is cylindrical and perpendicular to the post 25 is cylindrical at a 45 angle to the plane of the. slide 27. The thickness of the slide, 27 is one-half.

the thickness of the post 25 and a flange 31 equal to the other half of the thickness of the post 25 extends from 27. The wall 30'of the hole toward as shown in FIG. 8. I

diagonal cylindrical surface 30. The diameter of the hole 28 where it is circular on the far face of the slide 27 is equal to the combined thickness of the slide 27 and the flange 31. A finger 32 having a cam surface 33 extends beyond the end of the slide 27 for the purpose of operating a mechanical counter as hereinafter described.

The body 12of the voting 'rnechanism comprises a 2 pair of notched plates 34 and 35, respectively, and a series of, identical pairs of interlocking blocks 36 and 37, respectively, which fitinto the opposing notches of the plates 34 and 35. As detailed in FIGS. 6. and 7, the larger block 36 partly surrounds the smaller block 37 and is U-shaped withlegs 38 which, in outline, match the outlines of the end faces 39 of the smaller blocks 37. Two horizontally separated and parallel holes 40 and 41 having their centers parallel to the length of the body 12 are located onthe vertical center of the smaller blocks 37. The hole 40 extends through each I block 37 while the hole 41 ,isblocked off near the surface 42 to form asocket. The diameters of the holes 40 I and 41 fit the diameter of the hole 28 in the slide 27.

The space between the legs 38 on the larger block 36 is equal to the length of the smaller block 37 plus the distance betweenthe centers of the holes 40 and 41.

Theback of eachlarger block 36 is provided with a hole 43-of the same diameter and which will align with either of the. holes 40 or 41 when the smaller block 37 'is resting against one or the other of the legs 38. The

backof the larger block 36 is slotted'horizontally to ackey 25A is pushed to the left to set the;block 37 It it has been voted, the balls would be in a position indicept the flange 31 of the slide 27 of the key 13. The

blocks 36 and 37 and the key slide 27, when nested,

make an assembly three times as thick as the diameter of the hole'40, as isclearly shown'in FIGS. 3 and 4. As shown in FIG. 8 the assemblies are stacked one adjacent the other in any convenient number by fitting the same into the matchingnotches of the plates 34 and 35. A blank,44, withithe-outer shape of the-larger block 36, but without a hole or slot, is provided to end the series cated at A;,. For the purpose of this description consider that the candidate above A, has not been voted. No candidate in A A has been voted and one candidate in A A has been voted. When any key in a series is pushed to the left the ball 45 in the hole 28in the slide 27 forces the column of balls downward, the last" one 45a entering the socket 41 of the block 37 set at I the bottom of the column. The spring 46 will not allow the ball 45a todrop more than one diameter into'the socket 41 so his impossible for more than one ball to be displaced, hence one key can be moved; and only one candidate can be voted in each series. I

If it is desired to vote more than one candidate out of a series, as for example a city council, the set-upillustrated in FIG. 4 is used. The blocks 37 are all in the right hand position so that there is a continuous column of balls free to move downward against a spring supported stop 49 slidably installed in a tubular receiver 50 the size. of the balls 45. A U-shaped block 51 is attached to the stop 49 by means of a pin 52 and operates v smoothly on guide rods 53. The compression spring 54' supporting the stop-49 is relatively long andlimber al lowing a substantial travel of the stop 49. Each time a key 13is moved-to the left (starting at the top of the column and working down) to vote a candidate, the

column of balls 45 is moved downward displacing'the stop 49 the diameter of one ball. A shoulder 55 on the extension 52 will eventually come to rest against an indexing block 56 held by an adjusting screw 57 stabilized by a slide rod 58 and turned by a thumb screw wheel 59. When the'machine is set up for voting the indexing block is setfor a certain number of allowed selections out of the list of candidates on that column, as shown in the cutaway portion at the bottom of FIG. 1.

' In FIG. 4 three candidates in the series have been voted When the aligning holes in the parts forming the body a 12 are filled with identical steel balls 45, there is a pattern as disclosed in FIGS. 3 and 4. Each socket 41 in the smaller block 37 contains one ball 45a supported by a helical spring 46 which forces it against the larger 37 and the holes 28 in the slides 27 make a continuous column for all the candidates forone office. The candi-- dates are separated by moving one of the smaller blocks 37 to the right where the hole 41 lines up with the hole 43 in the larger block 36. The head of a set screw-47in the topof each smaller block 37 fits into either end of a dumbbell shaped slot 48 in the upper notched plate 3.4.Theblocks 37 at positions A A and A in FIG. 3 have been set to start a column of candiblock 36. Theballs in the holes 40 in the'smaller blocks dates for a different office. To accomplish this the set screw 47isloosened to where it can be moved in the slot 48 then the key 25A'in that block assembly is pushed to the left like the key 258 (shown for convenience just above) forcing the whole series of balls 45 downward so that the ball is eliminated from the hole .in the slide 27 of the key involved. Then the block 37 i is moved to the rightand secured by the-.set screw 47. When the key 25A is returned to its righthandposition the ball 45acenters -the hole.28 in the slide 27, as shown at position A. Key 258, as shown, should becon- .sidered only as an illustration of what happens'when and there is room for two more. The parts described above belongto the candidate-at-large selector mechanism 24. mentioned early in the described below. I

It might be that there are more candidates-at-large than can be listed on one column, or'that more can be voted out of that list than can be accommodated by the receiver 50. Thus it becomes necessary to list the candidates in two or more adjoining columns that are mechanically interacting. Referring now to. FIGS. 8, 9, 10

and 10A, it will be seen that, the bottom ,of the U- shaped block 51 carries a sheave 60 around which runs a chain 61 which is threaded over paired sheaves 62 at I tachedto the body- 12. This configurationis repeated on each column and the ends of the chain are fixed (by' means not shown) so that'if the jU-block 51 on any column ispushed back one ball diameter, takingup the chain, it limits the available travel space of the U-block 51 on the adjoining column by one ball diameter. For example, if there are eight candidates to be voted out of a slate of thirty and thereceiver will accept only six description and further I 81 of the toggles 79,

by an adjustable stop 65 from extending to include more than the allowed number of elected candidates. Thus, if out of eight candidates five are voted out of column ll, only three more can be voted out of column I, as shown by solid lines. But if only three are voted out of column II, as shown by the dotted lines, then five can be voted out of column I.

The straight ticket voting mechanism, detailed in FIGS. 15, 16, 17 and 18, consists of an elongate bottom plate 66 .attacheddirectly under all but the last two bodies 12 as shown in FIG. 16. Two parallel bars 67 are integral with the elongate plate 66, and two slightly smaller bars 68 lie alongside of the bars 67 and are attached thereto by toggles 69. The bars 68 are linked to the straight ticket keys 21 as shown in FIG. 17 and are held in the down position illustrated by springs 68a. The bars 67 and 68 are supplied with holes 70 and 71, respectively, one each forevery voting unit in the body 12 and which are designed to receive pins 72 and 73, respectively, on cams 74 which can be lifted out and placed in any pair of holes corresponding to any voting unit. A cam is placed on one pair of bars 67 and 68 under each Democratic candidate listed on the column and on the other pair of bars 67 and 68 under each Republican candidate listed publican key 21 is forced upward, all the earns 74 on that pair of bars will swing to the position shown dotted in FIG. 15, voting all the Republican candidates in that column as further explained below. Since one Republicancandidate in each series has now been voted, it is impossible to move the Democratic key 21, as this would tend to cause an additional voting key 13 to move in each series, which would be impossible.

The earns 74 in the straight ticket voting mechanism interact with a series of transverse slide bars 75 which constitutional amendments or other propositions re-- quiring yes or no vote, so the notches 76a for this column on the slide bars 75 are long enough so that the keys in this column are not affected by the cam action of a straight party vote. v

A re-setting unit comprises two stationary anchors 78 for a pair of toggles 79 which extend to a rigid bar 80 which lies just under and perpendicular to the slide bars 75, and which, when forced to follow the swinging arc will bear against the depending pins 82 forcing all the slide bars 75'back to their original positions and re-setting all.the voting keys 13 by means of the notches 76 and the key posts 25. In FIG. 15 the slide bar 75a only is shown in the extreme right hand position required to reset the key posts 25. Light tension springs 75b anchored tothe frame 10 attached to all the slide bars, but shown only once, return the bars to the ready position described above. The reset bar 80 is powered by a pressure and 21) which is moved in turn by a pawl 84 engaging a hook 85 on the pressure block83. The pawl 84 is actuated by the return spring 86 of the voting lever 19 as hereinafter described, so thatevery time the lever 19 on the column. When the Reblock 83 (FIGS. 15, 20'

. are notched where they intersect the key posts 25, each After each voting operation an official inserts the reset key 20 between rollers 90 on the pressure blocks 83 and 91 on the pawl 84 forcing the latter off the hook 85, allowing the reset bar 80 to be returned to its original position by means of a spring 92, connecting the bar 80 tothe frame 10. For each voter a punch card is inserted in the slot 16 at the upper left hand corner of the machine. The card punching unit is primarily illustrated in FIGS. 11 to 15, inclusive, and comprises a bank of selector plates 93, one for each voting columnar unit 11. The plates 93 are grooved longitudinally, parallel to the voting columns 12 to receive push rods 94, each progressively longer by the space required by one voting unit body 12. The longitudinal grooves 95 extend the full length of the plates 93 and are intersected by transverse grooves 96 opposite the voting unit bodies 12, each reaching progressively from just beyond the first groove 95 to just beyond the last one.

' Transverse push rods 97 are attached to the sockets 26 at the lower ends of the voting key posts 25, the rod at the top of the column being the longest, and each one being shorter in a descending series so that it will block the movement of its corresponding longitudinal rod 94 when the key is voted, but will allow the rod to pass when the key is not voted. The key posts 25 are progressively longer for each voting column to align the transverse rods 97 with the respective selector plates 93.

The longitudinal push rods 94 extend through a movable perforated plate 98 at the end adjacent the card slot 16 and are locked on the far side with snap washers 99. Close to the movable plate 98 there is a matching stationary perforated plate 100 holding punches 101 axially. aligned with the punch rods 94 and held in place with snap washers 102. A punch plate 103 and a guide plate 104 are held together on each side of the card slot 16 by pins 105. The movable perforated plate 98 and the guide plate 104 comprise a unit held together by side frame members 106. When the voting lever 19 is pulled towards the operator, bellcranks 107 shaft 108 (operated by a linkage described below) pull the punch plate 103 against the punches 101 by means of links 109. Only the punches 101 blocked by the push rods 94 which are in turn blocked by the transverse rods 97 attached to keys which have been voted will resist the motion of the punch plate Y103 and perforate the card. The remaining punches 101 will slide through the I The jack shaft 108 (as shown in FIG..20) is actuated by a bellcrank 110 connected by a link 111 to a lever 112 actuated in turn by a bellcrank 113 on'the main shaft 114 to which is attached the voting lever 19. The length of the lever 112 and the shortness of the bellcrank 113 adds considerable mechanical advantage.

on a jack where it is required to punch the card if a large number of keys have been voted.

The card is printed with a space for each possible write in candidate, and the voter writes the name on the card and then votes the corresponding write-in key on the machine,which will punch the card to show that a write-in vote has been cast for that office. Referring again to FIG. 20, the pivot pin 115 which connects the bellcrank 113 to the lever 112 carries a sheave 116 around which runs a chain 117, one end of which is attached to the frame of the machine and the other end of which is attached to the sliding block 118 which carries the above mentioned pawl 84 which engages the pressure block 83. Tension on the chain 117 is maintained by a spring 119. This chain and pulley linkage provides for the relatively long travel of the pressure block 83 required to reset the machine. The pivot pin 115 also operates a link 120 running to a bellcrank 121 which turns a second jack shaft 122 which has attached thereto a short bellcrank123 for each column 11 of 20 voting units in the machine. Pins on the bellcrank 123 operate slidably in goosenecks 124 on the ends of slide rods 125 extending through each voting column, giving is voted the cam surface 33 on the finger 32 of the key slide 27 moves under the pawl 128. Then when the voting lever 19 is pulled the pawl'128 rides up over the cam surface 33 and engages the star wheel 1270f the counter 126, registering one vote on that counter. Since, at thebeginning of the return stroke of the lever 19, all the voting keys are cleared far enough for the cam surface 33 to miss the pawl 128, it does not engage the star wheel 127 on its return trip.

The last voting column 11 adjacent the punch card bank 93 is purposely used for questions involving only certain precincts, and the keys not to be voted in any one precinct can be blocked by means of pins-129, FIG. 16, set in a shaft 130 lying just under and parallel to the body 12. The sequence of the pins canbe arranged to lock out certain keys in each precinct, or, as in some elections, when-only registered tax payers are to vote on a proposition, the election official can turn the shaft- 130 to block off the keys 25 as shown by the dotted outline of the pins 129 on ascertaining if the voter is eligible; The shaft 130 can be turned by the same key 23 that unlocks the voting machine, or by a special key, not shown.

Although'the interacting mechanical motions of this inventionmay appear somewhat complicated, the end result isa greatly simplified voting machine from the standpoint of setting up for election, counting votes and use by the voter. A substantial reduction in cost and weight has been accomplished in relation to voting machines now in use, and the weight reduction alone is an important factor in the cost of elections as the machines have to be transported from official headquarters to the polling places and back again for each election. Reduced cost of storage is also important, this machine having but a fraction of the volume of machines now in use. 1

The invention is notlimited to the exemplary con struction herein shown and described, but may be LII made in various ways within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

prising: a counter corresponding to each selection key,

means for receiving a recording medium, said means including marking means adapted to cooperate with said receiving means to record the voter selections on said recording medium,

mechanical linkage means interconnecting said keys and said marking means whereby said linkage means partially blocks said marking means to establish a mechanical pattern on said marking means corresponding to said voter selections, and

voting registering means including means for advancing the counters corresponding to the voter selections and means for simultaneously actuating said I mechanical linkage to register said marking means.

with said recording medium thereby transferring said mechanical blocking pattern in its entirety simultaneously 'to said recording medium. 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said recording medium is a data processing compatible card and said marking means comprises punches.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said recording medium is a dataprocessing compatible card and said marking means comprise means for imprinting the card.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said counter is a mechanical counter.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said machine is adapted to impress the-card,

mechanical linkage means interconnecting said keys and said marking means whereby said linkage means partially blocks said marking means toestablish a mechanical pattern on said marking means corresponding to said voter selections, and

voting registering means for registering the voter selection, said means including means for advancing .the counters corresponding to each selected key and means for simultaneously moving said card and markingmeans into mutual engagement thereby transferring said pattern in its entirety simultaneously to said record card. i I

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said marking means comprise punches and said linkage means include first push rods reciprocably mounted and incontrolling engagement with said punches,

second push rods in intersecting alignment with said first push rods, and

means associated with said keys for selectively moving said second rods to intercept and block the reciprocation of the corresponding first push rods thereby establishing said mechanical pattern.

8. A method of recording voter selection in a voting machine having multiple voting keys each representing a different selection, said method comprising:

inserting a computer compatible selection card into said'machine, manipulating the selection keys corresponding to the voter selection to partially block a marking means thereby establishing a predetermined mechanical pattern corresponding to the selections on said marking meansadjacent the card, registering said selection by actuation counters corresponding to the selected keys and simultaneously bringing said card and said marking means into mutual engagement thereby impressing said pattern in its entirety simultaneously on said card, and processing said impressed card to tally the voting results.

9. The method of claim 8 checked against the counter racy of the vote count.

10. A method of permanently recording voter selections with a voting machine having multiple keys, each representing a different selection, said method comprisingthe steps of:

inserting a recording medium into said machine,

manipulating the selection keys corresponding to the voter selection to partially block a marking device wherein said card tally is tally to insure the accuthereby establishing a predetermined mechanical pattern corresponding to the voter selections on the marking device, registering said selection by causing said pattern in its entirety to be transferred simultaneously to said recording medium from said marking device,

actuating the appropriate selection key indicating a write-in choice,

removing said card after registering said selection,

and

indicating the write-in selection on said card.

11. A method of permanently recording operator selections with a voting machine having multiple keys, each representing a different selection, said method comprising the steps of:

- inserting a recording medium into said machine,

manipulating the selection keys corresponding to the operators selection to partially block a marking device thereby establishing a predetermined mechanical pattern corresponding to the operator selections on said marking device, and registering said selection by causing said pattern in its entirety to be transferred simultaneously to said recording medium from said marking device and causing simultaneous action of counters to record the numerical cumulative tally.

Claims (11)

1. In a voting machine having multiple selection keys, multiple means for registering the voter selections comprising: a counter corresponding to each selection key, means for receiving a recording medium, said means including marking means adapted to cooperate with said receiving means to record the voter selections on said recording medium, mechanical linkage means interconnecting said keys and said marking means whereby said linkage means partially blocks said marking means to establish a mechanical pattern on said marking means corresponding to said voter selections, and voting registering means including means for advancing the counters corresponding to the voter selections and means for simultaneously actuating said mechanical linkage to register said marking means with said recording medium thereby transferring said mechanical blocking pattern in its entirety simultaneously to said recording medium.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said recording medium is a data processing compatible card and said marking means comprises punches.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said recording medium is a data processing compatible card and said marking means comprise means for imprinting the card.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said counter is a mechanical counter.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said machine is a voting machine.

6. In a voting machine having multiple voter selection keys, multiple means for registering the voter selections comprising: a counter corresponding to each selection key, means for receiving a record card, marking means adjacent said card receiving means having a multiple marking member therewith adapted to impress the card, mechanical linkage means interconnecting said keys and said marking means whereby said linkage means partially blocks said marking means to establish a mechanical pattern on said marking means corresponding to said voter selections, and voting registering means for registering the voter selection, said means including means for advancing the counters corresponding to each selected key and means for simultaneously moving said card and marking means into mutual engagement thereby transferring said pattern in its entirety simultaneously to said recorD card.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said marking means comprise punches and said linkage means include first push rods reciprocably mounted and in controlling engagement with said punches, second push rods in intersecting alignment with said first push rods, and means associated with said keys for selectively moving said second rods to intercept and block the reciprocation of the corresponding first push rods thereby establishing said mechanical pattern.

8. A method of recording voter selection in a voting machine having multiple voting keys each representing a different selection, said method comprising: inserting a computer compatible selection card into said machine, manipulating the selection keys corresponding to the voter selection to partially block a marking means thereby establishing a predetermined mechanical pattern corresponding to the selections on said marking means adjacent the card, registering said selection by actuation counters corresponding to the selected keys and simultaneously bringing said card and said marking means into mutual engagement thereby impressing said pattern in its entirety simultaneously on said card, and processing said impressed card to tally the voting results.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said card tally is checked against the counter tally to insure the accuracy of the vote count.

10. A method of permanently recording voter selections with a voting machine having multiple keys, each representing a different selection, said method comprising the steps of: inserting a recording medium into said machine, manipulating the selection keys corresponding to the voter selection to partially block a marking device thereby establishing a predetermined mechanical pattern corresponding to the voter selections on the marking device, registering said selection by causing said pattern in its entirety to be transferred simultaneously to said recording medium from said marking device, actuating the appropriate selection key indicating a write-in choice, removing said card after registering said selection, and indicating the write-in selection on said card.

11. A method of permanently recording operator selections with a voting machine having multiple keys, each representing a different selection, said method comprising the steps of: inserting a recording medium into said machine, manipulating the selection keys corresponding to the operator''s selection to partially block a marking device thereby establishing a predetermined mechanical pattern corresponding to the operator selections on said marking device, and registering said selection by causing said pattern in its entirety to be transferred simultaneously to said recording medium from said marking device and causing simultaneous action of counters to record the numerical cumulative tally.

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