Amid resurgent voter turnout nationwide for the presidential election last November, the Pitney Bowes ReliaVote Mail Balloting System was present and instrumental in helping 18 counties across five states from Washington to Florida get the results in.
“Voting by mail continues to grow, and with good reason,” said Murray Martin, chairman and CEO of Pitney Bowes, based in Norwalk. “Absentee ballots offer a secure, convenient and unhurried way for voters to consider and make their civic choices.”
Final reports from Pitney Bowes customers indicate that more than 4.2 million ballots were processed with the help of the Pitney Bowes system.
Martin said in many counties using the system, mail-in voters participated at higher rates ”“ as much as 20 percent higher ”“ than in-person voters.
The system uses a combination of hardware and software to match the right ballot to the right voter at the right time. After ballots are placed in the mail to voters, election officials can work with the U.S. Postal Service to track the progress of each ballot through the mail to the voter. Upon receipt of the completed ballots, the system uses high-speed scanners to record a photo image of the signed envelope. Election officials can compare this signature to the one they have in the county”™s voter registration system to validate the integrity of each ballot before the envelope is opened for counting.
 “The 2008 election was arguably the most important election in a generation and had many extremely close races across the country” said Martin. “It seems contrary to our national principles that so many voters felt they could not participate when an absentee ballot would have enabled them to do so easily. We hope more counties and states continue to promote absentee balloting as a way to expand the voting franchise accurately and efficiently to as many Americans as possible.”
