Senate of Virginia

Building a Reliable, Secure Voting System with Crestron Technology

 Challenge

Build a rock-solid electronic system to capture

and tabulate votes in the Senate of Virginia.

Solution

Rely on custom-programmed Crestron technology,

including a 3-Series Control System® and 44 Crestron touch screens.

Problem: Because voting is the bedrock of American democracy, any electronic voting system must be reliable, always available, easy to use, and extremely secure. For the Senate of Virginia, these were the key criteria for a new voting system to register and tabulate votes, control the order of business, call votes, recognize speakers, and summon members and pages. Decision Process: The Senate wanted a system that would give it better control over its technology. According to Jonathan Palmore, Senior Assistant Clerk, Technology, for the Senate of Virginia, “We really wanted complete control over the legislative mechanism, and we felt comfortable developing the application ourselves,” recalls Palmore. “The one thing we needed help with was the physical layer of voting—the part where our members would press a button, ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”