VotRite: The Wave of the Future           

We’d like to ask you a personal question, if we may.

Do you vote on a regular basis?

Now, before you squirm and wriggle, or get all red in the face, bear in mind that your answers will not be recorded ‘for quality and training purposes.’ No one must know whether you are a stickler for fulfilling ‘your civic duty.’

Besides, we aren’t necessarily speaking of the official November elections. Whether you are the CEO of a company or part of a local business union, a member of the police fraternity or the fire brigade,  even a manager at a small, struggling business, you may be called upon to vote several times a year. Even if you’re just a regular ‘shmoe’ who works in a one-person firm, you get to vote—sort of---every time you go to the coffee shop. Decaf or latte? Extra large or medium, with or without sugar? (just kiddin.’)

Anyhow, if you’re like a large percentage of Americans, when you hear the word ‘vote’ in November, the following image may come to mind:

 You’re standing in a large, crowded room, waiting on line for the ballot worker to check your signature in a thick book, give you a slip of paper, and send you to another line, this time to cast your vote in a machine as big as a broom closet—and twice as creepy.

Finally, your turn comes, and the curtain closes behind you. You’re faced with a cumbersome, old fashioned pulley screen, whose levers keep on sticking. You stand there, confused, pulling one lever and then another, until you finally get it right. No hanging chads or paper ballots—if you’re lucky. Only former President Bush had to deal with that.

The system, antiquated and backlogged, doesn’t bother you too much. Ten minutes and you’re outta there, on to bigger and better things. Besides, your vote is just that---one lone vote which probably won’t make a difference either way. Who cares?

But what if you do care? What if this isn’t a large, national election but a small, local shebang where every single vote counts? What if you’re the one running for town superintendent, or the librarian of your county, or board member of your school? What if, at the end of the day, you lost the election by only thirteen votes—even though you know the majority voted for you?

What if we showed you the research about widespread hacking and malfunctions in the antiquated voting machines, compiled by VotersUnite.Org, a grassroots group “to encourage citizen ownership of transparent democracy”? The list includes mass malfunctions in nearly every city and state across the US, from ‘registering phantom notes’ to ballot programming error counts and memory limitation, causing thousands of votes to be lost.

What if you sensed that something was funny, even if you couldn’t prove it?

Make no mistake. The old-fashioned voting machines that most Americans grew up with are obsolete. Even the Federal government agrees, ordering that from now on, only the newer machines be used.  The next time you head to the polls, the sickly green voting machine with the push-bottom levers should be history.

Okay, you say, I understand there’s a problem. But I’m not running for office anytime soon, nor are any of my friends.  Why should I care?

Aside from the fact that voting is one of the basic human rights in a Democratic country, the issue of voting—and voting machines are going to be on the forefront for a long time to come, thanks to James Kapsis, a brilliant inventor from Mineola, NY.

For the past few years, Mr. Kapsis and his crew have been hard at work in his factory, creating a breakthrough electronic, hack-free voting machine that has potential to revolutionize the industry. The machines have been approved for testing, and upon completion of the testing by the Federal government they will be available to be used in official elections around the country.

But that’s only one of the uses of the VotRite machine. Kapsis built these machines to be durable, easily shipped, user friendly, and mistake proof, as well as economical.

“There is a tremendous market for a voting machine that’s user-friendly,” said Kapsis. “I get calls from agencies and organizations all over the country, who are seeking to buy or rent these machines.”

These organizations include the Fraternal Order of Police, who must vote on national elections every two years and their local elections every  other year —with one provision. “They don’t know who the candidates will be until the day  before the elections. Thus, the voting machine they used must be easily programmable on the spur of the moment.”, and VotRite is!

The Firemen’s association constantly votes for various leadership positions, procedural changes, anything that concerns the brave firefighters. They, too, are prime candidates for these new voting machines. “But it’s not just the big guys who need to vote. You know those luxury apartment buildings and penthouses in Miami? They’re full of senior citizens who pay condo fees, and must vote on issues of security and management.”

The brand new VotRite machine, with ‘touch screen voting technology,’ was created with both governmental agencies and smaller businesses and organizations in mind. There are so many features which secure the voting, and include multi security encryptions, handicapped accessible options, paper ballot options, privacy features and other extras that only ‘seeing is believing.’

Despite all I heard about VotRite, I was still skeptical, until James and his crew paid me a visit last Tuesday, voting machine in tow. For the better part of two hours I was mesmerized, entertained, and excited by the prospects.

James and his assistant carried the machine upstairs, and turned it on with the flick of a button. As I was standing on the side, all I saw was a blank screen.

“Can you turn it on?” I requested.

“It’s on already.”

“But I can’t see anything.”

“That’s because you’re standing a bit sideways. It’s a privacy screen that is especially constructed so that only the person facing it can see. Others who are standing on the sidelines only get a blank screen, for security purposes.”

As I stood in front of the machine, James uploaded a typical ballot sheet, with about ten different layout options, in five different languages. “You can vote in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, Korean, even Chinese. All it takes is one click, and presto! The language is changed.” Many languages can be programmed as well.

Using the write-in feature, James expertly typed in the names of the (fictional) candidates, and urged us to vote.

“How do you expect me to vote on this machine on my own?” I challenged. “What if I’m eighty five and can barely walk?”

“Nobody will be using these machines on their own. When you rent a machine, it comes along with a technician, or ballot worker, who will explain everything and help the voters. There is a special headphone set which allows the visually impaired voter to review the ‘talking screen’, and sip & puff devices for the physically disabled persons.”

James explained that these machines will be available for rent at thousands of UPS stores across the country, where they can get to their destination quickly, and eliminated excessive shipping costs to the end users.

“We are the only company who has the machines ready to ship at any location, to minimize wear and tear, and to guarantee delivery for a pre planned election. We worked it out that way because if we’ll keep delivering sensitive equipment across the country, the machines will break very quickly, and may miss a scheduled election, and that’ll be bad for us—and the investors.”

Who are these investors, and why would they choose to invest in VotRite?

James smiled. “That’s the million-dollar question. Our investors are regular people, like you and me, with one crucial difference. They ask the right questions, do their research, and know how to take advantage of an opportunity before it fizzles away.”

Most investors are professionals who are familiar with the ins and outs of the stock market, commodities, bonds, and other investments. After reading the extensive research about VotRite and the market for this product, they have chosen to ‘lease’ multiple machines, to maximize their returns.

At this time, VotRite is offering a limited amount of machines for a five year sale leaseback plan. At the end of the lease machines are guaranteed to be ‘bought’ back by the company, for an amount consistent with annual depreciation. (The accelerated depreciation is a tax benefit.)  During these five years, VotRite will rent the machine for the investor, and the investors will make money every single time the machine is rented.

“This means that an investor who purchases a lease for one machine for seven thousand dollars will make a minimum of seven thousand dollars each year during the ensuing five years-- if the machines are rented only once a week. Considering the market is tremendous an investor could earn many times this amount.”