A system, method and computer program for tabulating votes and creating an audit trail is provided. A ballot processing device is integrated with a ballot box. The ballot processing device includes a paper feed mechanism, a computer, a ballot processing application loaded on the computer, and a digital scanning device linked to the computer. The ballot processing application provides instructions to the computer to initiate the digital scanning device to scan a paper ballot fed into the paper feed mechanism so as to create a digital image of the paper ballot. The ballot processing application also processes the digital image to establish a series of processing results defining one or more voting results for the paper ballot, and also an audit trail. The ballot processing application processes the digital image to define the voting results based on criteria established by election officials. The audit trail enables election officials to verify that particular paper ballots have been processed correctly in accordance with these criteria.