Computer-implemented system for image processing of documents associated with elections and methods thereof

Abstract

A system for election document processing is disclosed. Image data representative of a scanned election document is matched with a template for processing and consideration of a new elections record. The template defines areas of interest and rules for processing the image data. Data associated with picture elements defining the areas of interest is applied to predetermined validation functions to validate whether the image data includes sufficient information for populating predefined fields and accepting the scanned election document. Additional functions are applied to the image data to compare the image data with information of a voter registration database in order to verify a voter associated with the election document. The scanned election document is further processed for validation sampling.

1 . A computer-implemented system, comprising:
 a memory device, the memory device storing a plurality of scanned images associated respectively with a plurality of documents, the plurality of documents being associated with elections and further storing a plurality of predefined templates; and   a processor in operable communication with the memory device, the processor operable to:
 access a scanned image of the plurality of scanned images from the memory device, the scanned image associated with a document of the plurality of documents, 
 identify a document type from the scanned image, 
 access, based on the document type, a template of the plurality of predefined templates, the template defining areas of interest corresponding to predetermined locations associated with documents having the document type, and 
 validate a field of the document of the document reflected by the scanned image as being completed and acceptable, the field of the document relating to an area of interest defined by the template, wherein the processor interprets picture elements of the scanned image including the field of the document reflected by the scanned image to determine based upon the picture elements that the field is populated with sufficient information to satisfy a predetermined rule. 
   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
 determine whether the field of the document is populated, blank, crossed-out, or incomplete based on certain picture elements of the scanned image associated with the area of interest.   
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 2 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
 identify a total number of completed fields of the document by interpreting other picture elements of the scanned image according to corresponding areas of interest defined by the template.   
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
 verify that a voter associated with the document is eligible for voting, wherein to verify the voter the processor conducts optical character recognition upon the scanned image, extracts signature information from predetermined positions of the scanned image associated with a signature validation field, and compares the signature information to voter data of a voter registration database to determine if the signature information matches a voter record in the voter registration database.   
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the field of the document reflected by the scanned image is predefined by the template and consequently located by the processor according to a specific column and row pairs of pixels of the scanned image. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
 access parameters for configuring a new template, the parameters defining information associated with a new petition type,   configure the new template to identify certain areas of interest of a new image associated with the new petition type based on the parameters, and   generate the new template for storage and access via the memory device.   
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further operable to:
 build a database for storage in the memory device, the database comprising cached candidate values, the cached candidate values identified as being suitable for certain ones of the areas of interest.   
     
     
         8 . A method for processing scanned images of a document related to elections, comprising:
 accessing an image representing a digital version of a document associated with elections;   identifying an area of interest along the scanned image by referencing a template, the template defining a field of the document corresponding to the area of interest;   validating feature values associated with the area of interest to determine whether the scanned image includes sufficient information for populating the field of the document and complying with predetermined rules; and   comparing a subset of the feature values with information from a voter registration database to verify eligibility of the document.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the document comprises a petition defining a plurality of rows, each of the plurality of rows defining a voter. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the subset of the feature values relates to a particular voter associated with a row of the plurality of rows. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the subset of the feature values relates to a signature of the particular voter. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising validating the feature values and verifying the subset of the feature values in parallel. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 interpreting characters from the feature values using optical character recognition; and   displaying the characters via a user interface.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising providing a button along the user interface configured to reject certain ones of the characters as interpreted. 
     
     
         15 . A computing device including a display device in operative communication with the computing device, the computing device being configured to validate a plurality of documents associated with elections, wherein to validate each of the plurality of documents, the computing device interprets picture elements along areas of interest of a scanned image, the areas of interest predefined by a template and mapped to fields of a document type associated with each document, and the computing device displays a total number of the fields that are completed based on a predefined ruleset. 
     
     
         16 . The computing device of  claim 15 , wherein the computing device is further configured to validate a first portion of the scanned image and a second portion of the scanned image in parallel. 
     
     
         17 . The computing device of  claim 15 , wherein the computing device is configured with subset of a plurality of modules, the subset uniquely selected from the plurality of modules according to predetermined image processing specifications associated with the computing device. 
     
     
         18 . The computing device of  claim 15 , wherein the computing device is configured to access voter registration data. 
     
     
         19 . The computing device of  claim 18 , wherein the computing device is configured to leverage the voter registration data to verify eligibility of the document portions of the document. 
     
     
         20 . The computing device of  claim 15 , wherein the computing device is configured to dynamically build a codebase into an installation program which embeds unique installers for the number of processes associated with validation of the document.