US 12125319

US patent 12125319, titled "Optical character recognition of voter selections for cast vote records," was issued to Hart InterCivic Inc. The patent lists James M. Canter, Drew E. Tinney, and Ievgen Konovalenko as the inventors. The filing date for this patent was October 17, 2023, and it was granted on October 22, 2024.

Abstract:
The patent describes an electronic voting system that uses Printed Vote Records (PVRs) where a voter's selections are recorded in human-readable text. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques are then used to scan the PVRs and record these selections. The data obtained from OCR is used to create the official Cast Vote Record. This "what you see is what you get" approach ensures transparency, as the data used for the cast vote record is directly what the voter visually confirmed on the PVR.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Claim 1 (Method for Electronic Voting): This claim describes a method where a printed vote record (PVR) is generated with voter-readable text showing the voter's selections. Information is electronically captured from the PVR, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is used on this captured information to create a "first data set" based on the readable text. This first data set is then compared to a "second data set" also obtained from the PPR. A cast vote record (the final, stored vote for tabulation) is generated only after the accuracy of the data to be cast has been confirmed through the comparison of these two data sets.

• Claim 15 (Method for Electronic Voting with Encoded Data): Similar to Claim 1, this method involves generating a PVR with voter-readable text. It specifically distinguishes between "first information" (voter-readable text) used for OCR to generate a first data set, and "second information" which is encoded data also captured from the PVR to generate a second data set. The first data set is compared to the second data set, and a cast vote record (the final, stored vote) is generated only after the accuracy of the data is confirmed based on this comparison.

• Claim 29 (Electronic Voting System): This claim describes the physical system itself. It includes a printer to create the PVR with voter-readable text and a scanner to capture both "first information" (the readable text) and "second information" (encoded data) from the PVR. A processor is configured to perform OCR on the first information to create a first data set, generate a cast vote record based on this first data set, and generate a second data set from the encoded information. Critically, the processor is configured to confirm the accuracy of the data by comparing the first and second data sets before generating the final cast vote record for tabulation.

• Claim 34 (Method for Electronic Voting with Pre-Auditing Tabulation): This method builds on the previous claims by specifying the process flow. It involves generating a PVR with voter-readable text, electronically capturing first information (for OCR to create a first data set) and second information (encoded data to create a second data set). The first and second data sets are compared to confirm the accuracy of the voter's selection. After this confirmation, a cast vote record (the final, stored vote) is generated based on the first data set. The distinctive element here is that the election is then tabulated using this cast vote record before any vote auditing takes place.

USPTO and CAFC Search Results:

A search of the USPTO database confirms that US Patent 12125319B2, titled "Optical character recognition of voter selections for cast vote records," was granted on October 22, 2024, to Hart InterCivic Inc.

Regarding the CAFC 2026 dockets, the provided patent information indicates that a PTAB case, PGR2025-00066, was filed on August 26, 2025, by Election Systems & Software, LLC, challenging U.S. Pat. No. 10,445,966. While this is a related patent (US10445966B1, part of the same patent family and sharing the same title), no direct docket for the specific patent number US12125319 appears in the search results for CAFC in 2026. However, the legal events section of US12125319 does show a PGR (Post-Grant Review) case PGR2025-00066 filed against it, with an effective date of 2025-07-17, and the description explicitly states "TRIAL NO: PGR2025-00066" and "Opponent name : ELECTION SYSTEMS SOFTWARE, LLC". This PTAB case status is "Not Instituted - Merits". The disclaimer filed on 2026-03-31 for claims 21, 22, 28, 30, 32, 33 of US12125319 (with an effective date of 20250925) is noted. There is no information specifically in CAFC dockets for 2026 directly referencing patent 12125319.

Therefore, while a PTAB challenge (PGR2025-00066) has been filed against patent US12125319, and certain claims were disclaimed, there are no direct CAFC 2026 docket entries found for this specific patent number at this time.