The Mercuri method is the most popular and notable form of a

voter verified paper audit trail Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verified paper record (VPR) is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system. A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow ...

(VVPAT). It is a modification to direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines to provide a physical paper audit record that may be used to verify an electronic vote count. Because electronic voting machines record votes internally, in computer software,

vote fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

may be difficult to detect. Reconciling the electronic vote count with the physical vote count in all, or a random sampling of, machines allows poll-workers to screen for fraud. An election using this method would benefit from the efficiency of the DRE machines with the confidence instilled by a physical record. The method works by displaying a paper vote record under glass or clear plastic after a voter indicates their choices. The voter is instructed to verify that the paper record correctly indicates their vote. They finalize their vote by pressing a button or pulling a lever, and the paper record is stored. (This is called a

.) At no point can the voter remove the paper record from the voting area. To do so would allow for there to be a receipt that could be used to coerce the voter into voting for a candidate or to allow selling of votes. The Mecuri method is named after

Rebecca Mercuri Rebecca Mercuri is a computer scientist specializing in computer security and computer forensics. She is considered a leading expert on electronic voting systems. Education Mercuri earned her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2000 a ...

who described it in her PhD thesis at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

in 2000.

References

External links

The abstract of Rebecca Mercuri's PhD thesis

Full PhD thesis of Rebecca Mercuri
Electronic voting methods {{election-stub