Ballot on Demand (BOD)

1. A process that produces a paper ballot of the required ballot style that meets a specific voter’s needs. The use of this process requires a system with a printer that can create a tabulatable paper ballot; and a device driving the printer that has all the data needed to print each ballot style and allows selection of the needed style. Note: “ballot on demand” is a registered trademark of ES&S.

Source: Election Terminology Glossary - Draft, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), https://pages.nist.gov/ElectionGlossary/

2. A dedicated application that prints out a dedicated ballot as each voter checks in. BODs may also be used by polling stations to print additional ballots in emergency situations.

Source: Cyber Threats to Elections – A Lexicon, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, https://www.dni.gov/files/CTIIC/documents/CTIIC_2018_Lexicon_without_banner_small_file_for_Post.pdf

3. Ballot On Demand systems permit a jurisdiction to print paper, optical scan ballots as needed. BOD systems integrate ballot images from the Election Management System (EMS) and data from the voter registration system to select the correct image for printing. In theory BOD systems prevent over ordering of ballots and ensure that the jurisdiction does not run out of ballots during the election.

Source: Glossary - Introduction to Information Technology for Election Officials, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, https://www.eac.gov/assets/1/28/Glossary_IT-Terms_Managing_Election_Technology.pdf