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The following defines the minimal specifications for VxSuite paper stock. Ballot layout requirements are enumerated in Hand Marked Ballots and Machine Marked Ballots in the System Overview.
VxSuite supports a wide range of paper for hand-marked paper ballot style printing within the following supported specifications:
Width: 8.5"
Length: 11", 14", 17", 19", 22"
Weight: 105-177gsm
Coating: uncoated
Opacity: >90%
Color: white or any pastel color >70 brightness (to ensure it binarizes to white when scanned)
VxMark requires a specific type of thermal paper ballot stock as required by the VSAP BMD 150 component:
Manufacturer: Mitsubishi
Model: Thermoscript TF 1467
Width: 8"
Length: 13.25"
VxMark also expects each sheet of thermal paper stock to have a corner cut and instructional message printed on the uncoated (back) side for proper ballot orientation.
The maximum tabulation rate for batch-fed scanners is primarily limited by the hardware scanning speed limit for each central scanner model:
Ricoh fi-8170: 80 sheets per minute
Ricoh fi-7600: 100 sheets per minute
The sheet per minute rate is reduced by the need to interpret ballot images. Ballot interpretation speed varies based on the following ballot variables:
Ballot type
Ballot marking device ballots are slower to interpret than hand marked paper ballots.
Sheet length
Shorter (such as 11") ballots are faster to interpret than longer (such as 22") ballots.
Ballot content
Ballots with more contests and contests selections are slower to interpret.
Taking these limitations into consideration, batch scanners can be expected to scan approximately 50 sheets per minute for typical elections configurations.
In addition to the sheet per minute rate of a given batch, the maximum tabulation rate is also limited by the maximum batch size for each scanner. Due to the paper weight range supported by VxSuite, VotingWorks recommends a smaller batch size than the original manufacturer recommendation:
Ricoh fi-8170: 30 sheets per batch
Ricoh fi-7600: 100 sheets per batch
Finally, the maximum tabulation rate over the course of a day is limited by the daily volume limitations of each central scanner:
Ricoh fi-8170: 10,000 sheets/day
Ricoh fi-7600: 44,000 sheets/day
N-of-M contests
Yes/No contests
Partisan Primary Elections
The voting system itself does not have a concept of an open vs. closed primary as primary ballot styles are restricted to one party, but can support both types of primaries through procedurally restricting a voter to a given ballot style.
English
Spanish
Chinese (Simplified & Traditional)
Voter-facing content in an election package can be translated to additional left-to-right languages and imported into VxSuite, but is not formally supported or tested by VotingWorks.
Precincts
Election
1000
Candidates
Election
1000
Contests
Election
1000
Ballot Styles
Election
1000
Candidates
Contest
100
Vote For
Contest
50
Characters
Field Name
100
The total number of CVRs that can be imported is limited by the total disk space on the laptop (~200GB). The exact number of CVRs depends ballot size, ballot selections, tabulator used (VxScan or VxCentralScan), and other factors that determine expected CVR size.
The total number of ballots scanned is limited by the total disk space on the laptop (~200GB). The exact number of ballots depends on ballot size, complexity, and selections made that influence determine the CVR and ballot image sizes.
VxCentralScan is limited by the batch scanner maximum tabulation rate: Maximum Tabulation Rate
VxMark only supports 8" x 13.25" ballots as specified in Paper Ballot Specifications.
VxMark is limited to printing of 50 contest selections before needing to reduce text size to fit a summary ballot on a single sheet. VxMark can print a maximum of 100 contest selections with text-size reduction.
The ballot box supports up to 200 ballots before needing to be cleared.
The ballot box supports up to 3000 ballots in the main compartment before needing to be cleared.
The ballot box auxiliary compartment supports up to 100 ballots before needing to be cleared. Ballots longer than 19" must be folded.
Total ballots scanned for a given VxScan configuration are limited to 10,000 ballots. This limit is set based on the disk space available on specified external disks to ensure adequate disk space in the case of needing to re-sync CVRs.
In addition to the design requirements specified in Hand Marked Ballots, ballots are constrained by the following limits.
VxSuite hand marked paper ballot interpretation supports fractional grid coordinate positions, which enable bubble positions to be placed anywhere within the timing mark grid. However, the density of bubbles on a given ballot is limited to the total number of timing mark grid intersections to ensure accurate interpretation.
For an 11" ballot, which has a 32 x 39 timing mark grid, the maximum number of ballot positions is 1248 per page or 2496 per sheet. The maximum number of ballot positions increases for longer ballots due to the longer grid.
Candidates Per Contest
The total number of candidates per contest is limited by ballot design requirements restricting contest options to one column and one page (7.3-B.1). Therefore, the maximum number of candidates in a contest is the maximum number of bubble positions in a column. For a 22" ballot, there is a maximum of 83 possible bubble positions in a column. The maximum number of candidates per contest may be lower than 83 when accounting for instructional text and contest information in the ballot design.
The processing capabilities of the system are enumerated in the System Overview.
Specifically, capabilities that may be bypassed or enabled by the user are configured in the system settings file within the Election Package.
Marks are determined valid and counted by the system if the amount of darker pixels in the bubble area exceeds a configurable "definite" mark threshold set in the Election Package system settings file. This mark threshold can be adjusted to have a stricter or looser interpretation of what is considered a valid mark.
The recommended and default threshold is 7%. With this threshold setting, hand marked paper ballot interpretation detects a valid mark per the mark conditions described by VVSG 1.1.6-H.
At this default threshold, marks such as a light dot, a fold through a bubble, a stray mark outside of the bubble, or a small line just on the corner of a bubble will be considered invalid. Marks such as a completely filled bubble, half filled bubble, or an X in a bubble will be considered valid.
Examples of invalid and valid marks along with the score for that mark (in green) are shown below.
The mark threshold set on a scanner can be checked by an election official at any point by viewing the readiness report for that device as described in Diagnostics (see also & in the user manual).
This document covers supported capabilities and system limits that, alongside the System Overview, constitute the VxSuite Implementation Statement.
