1. A method for determining votes recorded on a voter-marked paper ballot, comprising: receiving, at a ballot processing computer, optical image data comprising an optical image of a voter-marked paper ballot, the voter-marked paper ballot including voter selection areas; performing a pixel determination of one or more voter selection areas, the pixel determination identifying pixels in the optical image that contain a voter marking; determining that a first subset of the one or more voter selection areas have been selected based on the pixel determination when a pixel count of one or more voter selection areas exceed a predefined first threshold value for determining a specific voter selection area has been selected; determining that a second subset of the one or more voter selection areas have not been selected when a pixel count of one or more voter selection areas fall below a predefined second threshold value for determining a specific voter selection area has not been selected; determining that a third subset of the one or more voter selection areas includes at least one ambiguous mark when a pixel count of one or more voter selection areas fall between the predefined first threshold value and second threshold value; and outputting an indication that one or more voter selection areas are ambiguous when it is determined that the voter-marked paper ballot includes at least one ambiguous mark.