The system was tested in May on 500 ballots and again in July before state officials certified it for use in the election.
John Silvestro, an Acu-vote official, said the vote-tabulation software was found to be 99.97 percent accurate in a test count of 300,000 votes.
The Acu-vote software was first In Cambridge, each ballot will be electronically scanned and stored on a memory card that will be loaded into the software at the Cambridge Senior Center, Silvestro said. "It's just like the SAT tests-you fill in bubbles and the scanner reads them," Silvestro said. "This is really the only [system] that could handle the Cambridge requirements." Software developer Jim Lindsay-who is traveling to Cambridge from Albany, Calif., for the election-will analyze the results using his election-analysis program, named PR Master. The program is sponsored by the Center for Voting and Democracy in Washington. "We're blazing a path," said Lindsay, who first began working to computerize city elections four years ago, when the PR Master program was barely a year old. Neighbor said that all transfers of information will occur "in full view of the public and election commissioners," although both Silvestro and Lindsay will work to tabulate the results. "The state require we run test ballots, which we did," Neighbor said. "We're confident the computers will work and work on schedule." Although Valentine said the Acu-vote software has encountered difficulties in the past, he attributed the bugs to revisions made by the company in adjusting software to client needs. He said every type of computer software begins with a beta, or untested, version, that "will almost undoubtedly have errors," but that "every time there's a revision there's a new testing process to test again test again until [it reaches] the most recent version." "[Acu-vote] is definitely ready for the Cambridge election," Valentine said. But are Cambridge officials ready for the new technology? "I've advised them and run them through all the tests," said Valentine. The real test, it appears, will come Nov. 4.