diff --git a/voting-booth/src/main/java/meerkat/voting/VBMessage.java b/voting-booth/src/main/java/meerkat/voting/VBMessage.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0555e8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/voting-booth/src/main/java/meerkat/voting/VBMessage.java
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+package meerkat.voting;
+
+import meerkat.protobuf.Voting.EncryptedBallot;
+import meerkat.protobuf.Voting.PlaintextBallot;
+
+public class VBMessage {
+
+	public enum VBMessageType 
+	{
+		VB_TICK, 
+		VB_CONTROLLER_RESPONSE,
+		VB_ENCRYPTION_QUERY
+	}
+
+	private VBMessageType m_type;
+	private EncryptedBallot m_encryptedBallot;
+	private PlaintextBallot m_plaintextBallot;
+
+	public static VBMessage newTick () {
+		VBMessage retVal = new VBMessage();
+		retVal.m_type = VBMessageType.VB_TICK;
+		return retVal;
+	}
+	
+	public static VBMessage newEncryptionQuery (PlaintextBallot plaintextBallot) {
+		VBMessage retVal = new VBMessage();
+		retVal.m_type = VBMessageType.VB_ENCRYPTION_QUERY;
+		retVal.m_plaintextBallot = plaintextBallot;
+		return retVal;
+	}
+
+	public static VBMessage newControllerResponse (EncryptedBallot encryptedBallot) {
+		VBMessage retVal = new VBMessage();
+		retVal.m_type = VBMessageType.VB_CONTROLLER_RESPONSE;
+		retVal.m_encryptedBallot = encryptedBallot;
+		return retVal;
+	}
+	
+	public EncryptedBallot getEncryptedBallot () {
+		assert m_type == VBMessageType.VB_CONTROLLER_RESPONSE;
+		return m_encryptedBallot;
+	}
+
+	public PlaintextBallot getPlaintextBallot () {
+		assert m_type == VBMessageType.VB_ENCRYPTION_QUERY;
+		return m_plaintextBallot;
+	}
+
+	public boolean isEmptyMessage () {
+		return (m_type == VBMessageType.VB_TICK);
+	}
+}
diff --git a/voting-booth/src/main/java/meerkat/voting/VotingBoothToy.java b/voting-booth/src/main/java/meerkat/voting/VotingBoothToy.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f806ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/voting-booth/src/main/java/meerkat/voting/VotingBoothToy.java
@@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
+package meerkat.voting;
+
+import meerkat.protobuf.Voting.BallotAnswer;
+import meerkat.protobuf.Voting.BallotAnswerTranslationTable;
+import meerkat.protobuf.Voting.BallotQuestion;
+import meerkat.protobuf.Voting.BallotSecrets;
+import meerkat.protobuf.Voting.BoothParams;
+import meerkat.protobuf.Voting.ElectionParams;
+import meerkat.protobuf.Voting.PlaintextBallot;
+import meerkat.protobuf.Crypto.EncryptionPublicKey;
+
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.util.List;
+
+
+
+public class VotingBoothToy implements VotingBooth, Runnable {
+
+	//private ElectionParams m_electionParams;		
+	private EncryptionPublicKey m_ballotEncryptionKey;
+	private List<BallotQuestion> l_questions;
+	private BallotQuestion a_questions[];
+	private BallotAnswer a_answers[];
+	private BallotAnswerTranslationTable m_answerTranslationTable;
+	
+	private BoothParams m_boothParams;
+	private VotingBooth.UI m_ui;
+	
+	
+	public VotingBoothToy () {
+	}
+	
+	public void registerUI (UI ui) {
+		m_ui = ui;
+	}
+	
+	public void run () {
+		
+	}
+	
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see meerkat.voting.VotingBooth#init(meerkat.protobuf.Voting.ElectionParams, meerkat.protobuf.Voting.BoothParams)
+	 */
+	@Override
+	public void init(ElectionParams globalParams, BoothParams boothParams) {
+		System.err.println ("debug VB: init.");
+		//this.m_electionParams = globalParams;
+		this.m_ballotEncryptionKey = globalParams.getBallotEncryptionKey();
+		this.l_questions =  globalParams.getQuestionsList();
+		
+		this.m_answerTranslationTable = globalParams.getAnswerTranslationTable();
+
+		this.m_boothParams = boothParams;
+
+	}
+
+	public void registerVBUI (VotingBooth.UI ui)
+	{
+		m_ui = ui;
+	}
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see meerkat.voting.VotingBooth#submitBallot(meerkat.protobuf.Voting.PlaintextBallot)
+	 */
+	@Override
+	public void submitBallot(PlaintextBallot ballot) {
+		System.err.println ("debug VB: submit ballot.");
+		// encryptBallot (PlaintextBallot)
+
+	}
+
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see meerkat.voting.VotingBooth#cancelBallot()
+	 */
+	@Override
+	public void cancelBallot() {
+		// TODO Auto-generated method stub
+
+	}
+
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see meerkat.voting.VotingBooth#voterCastOrAudit(boolean)
+	 */
+	@Override
+	public void voterCastOrAudit(boolean castVote) {
+		// TODO Auto-generated method stub
+
+	}
+
+}
+
+
+
+/*
+
+//A ballot question. This is an opaque
+//data type that is parsed by the UI to display
+//the question.
+message BallotQuestion {
+ bytes data = 1;
+}
+
+//An answer to a specific ballot question.
+//The answer is a vector of signed integers,
+//to encompass voting schemes such as ranked voting
+//and STV.
+message BallotAnswer {
+ repeated sint64 answer = 1 [packed=true];
+}
+
+message PlaintextBallot {
+ uint64 serialNumber = 1; // Ballot serial number
+
+ repeated BallotAnswer answers = 2;
+}
+
+message BallotSecrets {
+ PlaintextBallot plaintext_ballot = 1;
+
+ EncryptionRandomness encryption_randomness = 2;
+ RandomnessGenerationProof proof = 3;
+}
+
+message BoothParams {
+ repeated SignatureVerificationKey pscVerificationKeys = 1;
+
+}
+
+//A table to translate to and from compactly encoded answers
+//and their human-understandable counterparts.
+//This should be parsable by the UI
+message BallotAnswerTranslationTable {
+ bytes data = 1;
+}
+
+message ElectionParams {
+ // TODO: different sets of keys for different roles?
+ //repeated SignatureVerificationKey trusteeVerificationKeys = 1;
+
+ // How many trustees must participate in a signature for it to be considered valid.
+ //uint32 trusteeSignatureThreshold = 2;
+
+ // The key used to encrypt ballots. The corresponding private key
+ // is shared between the trustees.
+ EncryptionPublicKey ballotEncryptionKey = 3;
+
+ // Verification keys for valid mixers.
+ //repeated SignatureVerificationKey mixerVerificationKeys = 4;
+
+ // How many mixers must participate for the mixing to be considered valid
+ //uint32 mixerThreshold = 5;
+
+ // Candidate list (or other question format)
+ repeated BallotQuestion questions = 6;
+
+ // Translation table between answers and plaintext encoding
+ BallotAnswerTranslationTable answerTranslationTable = 7;
+
+}
+*/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/voting-booth/src/main/java/meerkat/voting/VotingBoothToyConsoleUI.java b/voting-booth/src/main/java/meerkat/voting/VotingBoothToyConsoleUI.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4cc65f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/voting-booth/src/main/java/meerkat/voting/VotingBoothToyConsoleUI.java
@@ -0,0 +1,305 @@
+/**
+ * 
+ */
+package meerkat.voting;
+
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.util.Date;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.StringTokenizer;
+import java.util.Timer;
+import java.util.TimerTask;
+import java.util.concurrent.ArrayBlockingQueue;
+
+import com.google.protobuf.ByteString;
+
+import meerkat.protobuf.Voting.*;
+import meerkat.voting.VotingBooth.UI;
+
+/**
+ * @author hai
+ *
+ */
+public class VotingBoothToyConsoleUI implements UI, Runnable {
+
+	private BufferedReader m_in;
+	private VotingBooth m_vbController;
+	//private SharedPlaintextBallotMessage m_sharedPlaintext;
+	//private SharedEncryptedBallotMessage m_sharedEncrypted;
+	private ArrayBlockingQueue<VBMessage> a_queue;
+	static private int m_queueSize = 5;
+	private BallotQuestion a_questions[];
+	private int m_serialNumber;
+	private PlaintextBallot m_plaintextBallot;
+	private EncryptedBallot m_encryptedBallot;
+	private int m_waitForControllerMillisecTimeout = 10;
+	
+	
+	public VotingBoothToyConsoleUI () {
+		a_queue = new ArrayBlockingQueue<VBMessage> (m_queueSize, true);
+	}
+	
+	public VotingBoothToyConsoleUI(ElectionParams globalParams) {
+		m_serialNumber = 0;
+		List<BallotQuestion> l_questions =  globalParams.getQuestionsList();
+		a_questions = new BallotQuestion[l_questions.size()];
+		m_in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
+		
+		int i = 0;
+		for (BallotQuestion q: l_questions) {
+			a_questions[i] = q;
+			++i;
+		}
+	}
+	
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see meerkat.voting.VotingBooth.UI#votingBegin()
+	 */
+	@Override
+    public void votingBegin() {
+		System.err.println ("UI debug: preparing console UI for a new user.");
+		System.out.println ("UI screen: Welcome. Press to start");
+		readInputLine();
+		
+		++ m_serialNumber;
+		boolean votingOccured = listQuestionsToUserAndGetAnswers ();
+		
+		if (! votingOccured)
+		{
+			// cancel vote;
+			return;
+		}
+		else {
+			sendBallotToControllerForEncryptionAndWaitForResponse ();
+		}
+	}
+
+	
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see meerkat.voting.VotingBooth.UI#commitToEncryptedBallot(meerkat.voting.EncryptedBallot)
+	 */
+	@Override
+    public void commitToEncryptedBallot(EncryptedBallot encryptedBallot) {
+		try {
+			a_queue.put (VBMessage.newControllerResponse(encryptedBallot));
+		}
+		catch (InterruptedException e) {
+			System.err.println ("Interrupted in VotingBoothToyConsoleUI.commitToEncryptedBallot");
+		}
+	}
+
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see meerkat.voting.VotingBooth.UI#castVote()
+	 */
+	@Override
+    public void castVote() {
+		System.err.println ("UI debug: voter decided to cast vote.");
+		System.out.println ("UI printer: print empty space until end of page");
+	}
+
+	/* (non-Javadoc)
+	 * @see meerkat.voting.VotingBooth.UI#auditVote(meerkat.protobuf.Voting.BallotSecrets)
+	 */
+	@Override
+    public void auditVote(BallotSecrets ballotSecrets) {
+		// audit = calcAudit (ballotSecrets)
+		// sendToPrinter (audit)
+		System.err.println ("UI debug: voter decided to audit vote.");
+		System.out.println ("UI printer: here we should print audit of ballot");
+
+	}
+
+	public void run () {		
+		System.out.println("UI screen: Initializing the magic");
+		
+		System.out.println("UI screen: press something to start the system");
+		readInputLine();
+
+		while (true) {
+			votingBegin();
+			
+			if (m_encryptedBallot != null) {
+				
+				printBallot();
+				
+				castOrAudit ();
+				
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	
+	private void castOrAudit () {
+		
+		// fix the flow here!!
+		// keeping the same vote should return for a new encryption
+		
+		System.out.println("UI screen: printing ended. Do you want to (c)ast the ballot or (a)udit?");
+		
+		boolean keepThisVote = true;
+		String s = readInputLine();
+		if (s.equals("c") || s.equals("cancel") || s.equals("cast")) {
+			castVote();
+			keepThisVote = false;
+		}
+		else if (s.equals("a") || s.equals("audit")) {
+			auditVote();
+			System.out.println("Do you still want to keep this vote? Type 'y' for casting/auditing the same vote. Type 'n' tp start from scratch");
+			if (s.equals("y") || s.equals("yes")) {
+				//
+			}
+			else if (s.equals("n") || s.equals("no")) {
+				keepThisVote = false;
+			}
+			else {
+				throw new IOException();
+			}
+		}
+		else {
+			throw new IOException();
+		}
+	}
+
+	public void registerVBController (VotingBooth vb)
+	{
+		m_vbController = vb;
+		//m_sharedPlaintext = sharedPlaintext;
+		//m_sharedEncrypted = sharedEncrypted;
+	}
+	
+	/*
+	 * returns true if voting finished successfully
+	 * false if cancelled in the middle
+	 */
+	private boolean listQuestionsToUserAndGetAnswers()
+	{
+		PlaintextBallot.Builder ptbb = PlaintextBallot.newBuilder();
+
+		ptbb.setSerialNumber(m_serialNumber);
+		
+		int index = 0;
+		while (index < a_questions.length) {
+			BallotQuestion q = a_questions[index];
+			printQuestion(index, q);
+			System.out.println("UI screen: Enter your answer. You can also type 'back' or 'cancel'");
+			String s = readInputLine();
+			
+			if (s.equals("cancel") || (index == 0 && s.equals("back"))) {
+				m_plaintextBallot = null;
+				return false;
+			}
+
+			if (s.equals("back")) {
+				--index;
+				continue;
+			}
+			
+			BallotAnswer answer = translateStringAnswerToProtoBufMessageAnswer (s);
+			ptbb.setAnswers(index, answer);
+		}
+		
+		m_plaintextBallot = ptbb.build();
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	
+	private String readInputLine () {
+		String s;
+		try {
+			s = this.m_in.readLine();
+		}
+		catch (IOException e) {
+			System.err.println("UI debug: VotingBegin(): some error with reading input. " + e);
+			return null;
+		}
+
+		return s;
+	}
+	
+	private String getHexData (ByteString data) {
+		String s = "";
+		for (Byte b : data) {
+			s += "0123456789ABCDEF".charAt((int)b / 16);
+			s += "0123456789ABCDEF".charAt((int)b % 16);			
+		}
+		return s;
+	}
+	
+	private void printHexData (ByteString data) {
+		String s = getHexData(data);
+		System.out.println(s);
+	}
+	
+	private void printQuestion (int i, BallotQuestion q) {
+		System.out.println("UI screen: question number " + i);
+		System.out.println(q.getData());
+		printHexData (q.getData());	
+	}
+	
+	private BallotAnswer translateStringAnswerToProtoBufMessageAnswer (String s) {
+		BallotAnswer.Builder bab = BallotAnswer.newBuilder();
+	    StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(s);
+	    int index = 0;
+	    while (st.hasMoreTokens()) {
+	    	++index;
+			bab.setAnswer(index, Integer.parseInt(st.nextToken()));
+	    }
+
+		BallotAnswer ba = bab.build();
+		return ba;
+	}
+	
+	public void tick () {
+		// adds a 'tick'. If queue is full, do nothing
+		a_queue.add (VBMessage.newTick());
+	}
+	
+	private void sendBallotToControllerForEncryptionAndWaitForResponse () {
+		
+		class TickerTask extends TimerTask {
+			private VotingBoothToyConsoleUI m_ui;
+			public TickerTask (VotingBoothToyConsoleUI ui) {
+				m_ui = ui;
+			}
+			  
+			@Override
+			public void run() {
+			    m_ui.tick();
+			} 			
+		}
+		
+		System.out.println("UI screen: Please wait for encryption");
+		m_vbController.submitBallot(m_plaintextBallot);
+		m_encryptedBallot = null;
+		Timer timer = new Timer();
+		timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TickerTask(this), new Date(), m_waitForControllerMillisecTimeout);
+		
+		while (m_encryptedBallot == null)
+		{
+			VBMessage msg = null;
+			try {
+				msg = a_queue.take();
+			}
+			catch (InterruptedException e) {
+				System.err.println("VotingBoothToyConsoleUI.sendBallotToControllerForEncryptionAndWaitForResponse  interrupted!");
+				return;
+			}
+			if (msg.isEmptyMessage()) {
+				System.out.print(".");
+			}
+			else {
+				m_encryptedBallot = msg.getEncryptedBallot();
+				if (m_encryptedBallot.getSerialNumber() != m_plaintextBallot.getSerialNumber())
+				{
+					m_encryptedBallot = null;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		
+		System.out.println("\nUI debug: Received EncryptedBallot");
+		timer.cancel();
+		timer.purge();
+		
+	}
+}