Last updated on: 3/3/2009 | Author: ProCon.org

Joseph P. Harris, PhD Biography

Title:
Inventor of the Punchcard Voting System
Position:
None Found to the question "Do Electronic Voting Machines Improve the Voting Process?"
Reasoning:

Position not found as of Feb. 13, 2008

Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Sells Harris Votomatic, Inc. to IBM, 1965
  • Patents the Votomatic punchcard voting system (U.S. Patent 3,201,038), which eventually becomes the most popular type of punchcard voting system used in the United States, 1965
  • Forms Harris Votomatic, Inc. to manufacture and sell his punchcard voting system, 1964
  • With the help of engineer William Rouverol develops a voting system that employs a stylus to punch out the desired vote selection on a pre-scored card and uses a computer to tabulate the votes. This system is the manifestation of an idea he originally had in the 1930s, 1964
  • Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, 1941-1963
  • Director of Research, U.S. President’s Committee on Administration Management
  • Established the Joseph P. and Polly Harris Trust at the Institute for Government Studies at University of California, Berkeley
  • U.S. Army Air Service during World War I
Education:
  • PhD, Political Science, University of Chicago
  • BA, Political Science, University of Kansas
Other:
  • Died on 1985