Crestron
e-control Vote SW-VOTE
14
••
Introduction
Installation & Reference Guide — DOC. 5822
The following additional functions are only available to the PC screen or Crestron
touchpanel interfaces (not available through a control panel-only interface):
Before floor is opened:
•
Operator selection of a chairperson from among assembled membership (there is a
default if this step is omitted)
•
Operator selection of an agenda item from a database table, or, in the case of an
impromptu vote, entered directly from the PC’s keyboard or the touchpanel’s simulated
“keyboard.”
While floor is opened:
•
Visual feedback of vote progress (which seats have voted, as opposed to which have not
yet voted, optionally showing how each vote has been cast)
•
Provide a live tally of vote results (Yeses, Nos, Abstentions, Total votes cast, plus
number of Absentees, and number of seats excused from the present vote)
After floor is closed:
•
Adjust votes (which at this point are displayed to Operator as they were actually cast),
and redisplay the results; this operation may be repeated indefinitely
Vote reporting modalities include:
•
as a record added to a database table
•
in a textfile
•
as a print-out (optional)
•
via high-resolution video display.
Summary of Seat functions
Each member’s seat has buttons for each kind of ballot they can cast, which normally
would include at least
•
Yes
(also doubles for “present” during taking of attendance)
•
No
Seats might also have the following additional buttons:
•
Abstain
•
Conflict
(actually a Request-to-Speak button; see next section)
All vote buttons (
Yes, No,
and
Abstain
) are momentary contacts which transmit a
pulse to the server. It is not necessary to worry about de-bouncing these buttons;
additional pulses are ignored. Nevertheless, buttons typically display feedback to
allay user anxiety about whether the system has “heard” their button press.
Feedback is not however controlled by the Voting Computer, but rather locally (by
the control system). Depending on the rules of the voting body, your control system
program should provide feedback to either the last vote button pressed, or to all vote
buttons whenever one is pressed. In the latter case, a single
Vote has been cast
feedback might suffice (rather than lighting up all buttons), although after the floor
has been closed, it may be desirable to go ahead and display each seat’s actual vote
using the individual button feedbacks. (See the
Status
s
signals in the Signal
Reference.)
Request-to-Speak Console signal blocks
Like the Voting Console signal block, Request-to-Speak Console signal blocks also
accept and respond to signals from both the Operator and the individual seats in the
voting chamber. The Request-to-Speak Console signal block automatically maintains
a number of request-to-speak queues, each of which displays the order in which
members have pressed their various
RTS
buttons to enter the queue.
