Lake Image Systems enhances integrity for Vote-By-Mail ballots at Runbeck Election Services
Lake Image Systems is pleased to announce that Phoenix-based Runbeck Election Services – a leading provider for election printing services, has implemented four W+D BB700 S2 high-speed mail inserter systems integrated with Lake Image mail integrity control and print verification technology for Vote-By-Mail ballot production.
Vote-By-Mail (or VBM) provides an effective way for election administrators to cut costs, increase turnout, and respond to voter demands for greater convenience. Recently, however, there has been a perception that postal ballots are more amenable to both fraud and manipulation – following a number of controversies surrounding postal voting. Ballots were either lost, had incorrect information, sent to the wrong voter, or failed to return to election offices. Under such allegations, the printing, inserting and mailing of VBM ballots and election materials has come under extreme scrutiny with increased compliance requirements.
We must ensure we prepare, print, track, insert and mail ballots with the highest levels of transparency and security, while achieving 100% mail accuracy and integrity at all times,” said Jeff Ellington, President and COO at Runbeck Election Services. “Even one incorrect ballot can have serious consequences for our business, and the resulting publicity can potentially destroy voter confidence in the entire election process.”
To print, enclose and mail several million ballots per election cycle, Runbeck’s new production facility was equipped with the latest in data management, digital inkjet printing and inserting technologies, operated under rigorous, well-documented procedures to deliver the highest levels of accuracy and integrity. In such a dynamic, time-pressured mailing environment, errors due to duplication, incorrect printing or an incorrectly enclosed ballot, had to be virtually eliminated.
We regularly print both 2-of-5 and 3-of-9 barcodes and our inserters are equipped with readers and integrity software to manage mail integrity. But we required a final verification check to match the printed information against the input data file to ensure what was printed was correct and accounted for,” concluded Ellington.
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