Date of Award

2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Systems Engineering

Department

Mechanical, Industrial and Systems Engineering

First Advisor

Gretchen A. Macht

Abstract

Per federal law (52 U.S.C. § 20701), United States election officials are required to retain and preserve voted ballots for a minimum of 22 months following any election with a federal candidate. It is the state's discretion to extend or reduce this period for state and local elections. To assist election officials when planning for ballot retention, a multi-step algorithm has been developed to estimate the spatial requirements associated with storing voted ballots from one or multiple elections. Using historical or forecasted turnout data, this algorithm estimates the number of containers needed for ballot storage and the corresponding volumetric spatial requirement. Since jurisdictions can implement various sorting methods when categorizing voted ballots, this algorithm has been developed based on four potential methods: 1) Sorting by Casting Method, 2) Sorting by Location, 3) Sorting by Machine, and 4) No Sorting Method. The algorithm was validated against 128 test cases across all four methods with an overall accuracy of 99.58%. The algorithm's estimations can be used by election officials to quantify the space required to store ballots during their designated retention period and to better plan for future elections.

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Available for download on Thursday, May 27, 2027

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