News

Clearwater, FL – May 23, 2016 – One of the nation’s most respected voter registration technology providers today announced a new ballot printing feature that will impact the way elections are conducted in the future. DirectPrint, developed in response to customer needs, streamlines the ballot printing process and eliminates reliance on costly equipment.

“DirectPrint has been a homerun for Bay County,” said Mark Anderson, Supervisor of Elections for Bay County, Florida. “Our election workers can get a voter’s ballot in hand within 45 seconds. In elections today, money is getting tighter but requirements are getting larger. DirectPrint is an innovation that helps us meet our mission and save on costs.”

DirectPrint for EViD is a software interface that eliminates the need for an intermediate piece of equipment, most often a laptop, to operate between an epollbook and a printer, allowing the devices to communicate directly. Moreover, it is designed for use with Commercial off-the-Shelf (COTS) printers resulting in greater printer options for elections offices.

Specifically, DirectPrint:

• eliminates the need for additional third party devices to print a ballot. This reduces costs associated with maintenance, equipment, training and transport;
• works with COTS printers. This eliminates the current need to buy proprietary printing equipment which is often over double in price, if not more;
• enables single button ballot print testing. Previously workers had to scroll through directories to print each ballot individually in a highly time consuming process;
• offers multilingual options for the EViD. Previously a ballot was printed in all languages whereas with DirectPrint workers can specify which language they need;
• delivers ballot reporting capabilities. Elections officials can use the EViD system to see how many ballots have been printed in the system and where; and,
• simplifies the process for election workers during set-up and use.

“Bay County did not require any technical support to set up for our high turnout in the recent Presidential Preference Primary. It is easy for our poll workers to use,” added Anderson.

Currently DirectPrint is available for all EViD users. DirectPrint can also be used by VR’s Voter Focus users to enable printing directly from the desktop. The product was beta tested this past March and at least a dozen counties are expected to use DirectPrint in the upcoming primary and general elections.

“The development of DirectPrint came about because our customers told us they needed a better solution for ballot printing,” said Ben Martin, COO of VR and EViD Product Manager. “We know the best ideas come from customers and that is why we listen and work closely with them. VR’s success as a company was built around focusing on the needs of the customer and DirectPrint comes from that mindset.”

To learn more about DirectPrint, please visit www.vrsystems.com. You can also contact VR for a product demonstration at sales@vrsystems or call 850.668.2838.

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About VR Systems

Founded in 1992, VR Systems provides elections management services focused on the integrity of the registration and reporting processes. Following elections overhaul legislation in Florida in the early 2000’s, VR Systems began expanding its offerings across the state of Florida and today VR Systems serves elections clients in 14 states. The company, headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, with a regional office in Matthews, North Carolina, is 100 percent employee owned (ESOP) by its approximately 40 employees. Its suite of products and services include the EViD electronic pollbook, the Voter Focus elections management solution, VRTower web management services and ELM election worker training. For more information please visit www.vrsystems.com.

Media contact:

Lee Rice, (850) 668-2838
lrice@vrsystems.com