Ballot Count Reconciliation for 3/15/16

Count the ballots in each pack when it is opened. Open a pack only when ballots from it are required. The "100" packs, which are put together by weight, often do not contain exactly 100 ballots. That then makes filling out the BOE "Reconciliation Form" very difficult at the end of the day if the starting counts are unknown. Record the true starting counts in the "Counts for Opened..." column of the following worksheet immediately when each pack is opened and counted.

At the end of the day, complete the worksheet by making column entries for each ballot style in a box as follows:

Delivered:
Record the sum of the ballots that were in the opened packs for that style from that box (i.e., the total of the "Counts for Opened..." entries you logged) plus the ballots in the unopened packs (assuming "100 per pack") for that style from that box.
Left at End:
Record the sum of the ballots remaining from the opened packs for that style from that box plus the ballots in the unopened packs (assuming "100 per pack") for that style from that box.
Used:
Record the difference between "Delivered" and "Left at End". This is the number of ballots actually given out.

Calculate the total for each column. Verify that the "Used" total does equal the difference between the "Delivered" and "Left at End" totals.

Record the number of ballots used for each of Emergency Bin, Provisional, Spoiled, and Challenged; then determine the total. Subtract that number from the "Used" total. The result should match the M100 "TOTAL BALLOTS" number printed on the tape. It should also match the last used ATV number minus the number of ballots in the emergency bin.

Note:  For the 3/15/16 election there were 7 ballot style(s) for precinct 19-09. Nominally 3600 ballots were delivered.

                                                                Counts for "100" Packs
                 Delivered   Left at End     Used           where "<100>" means "unopened"
                ===========  ===========  ==========   ========================================

  Box 1:  D027:     100            0          100       100

          D028:     100           97            3       100

          L051:     101           96            5       101

          L052:     100          100            0      <100>

          N053:     200          200            0       100   <100>

  Box 2:  R005:     400            0          400       100    100    100    100

          R006:     100           94            6       100

          D027:     100            0          100       100

  Box 3:  R005:     600          127          473       100    100    100    100    100  <100>

  Box 4:  R005:     600          600            0      <100>  <100>  <100>  <100>  <100>  <100>

  Box 5:  D027:     599          178          421       100     99    100    100    100  <100>

  Box 6:  D027:     600          600            0      <100>  <100>  <100>  <100>  <100>  <100>

                   ======       ======       ======
        Totals:    3600         2092         1508

                                       •--> -  67
                                       |     ======
                                       |
               Emergency Bin:   1      |     1441  vs.  M100 "TOTAL BALLOTS":  1440 <-•
                                       |                 (from totals tape)           |
               Provisional:    58      |                                              |
                                       |                                              |
               Spoiled:         8      |        Number on last ATV:       1440        |
                                       |                                              |
               Challenged:      0      |        Emergency Bin:          -    1        |
                              ====     |                                 ======       |
                                       |                                              |
   Total not counted by M100:  67  >---•        Calculated M100 number:   1439  vs. >-•

Possible Explanations for the Discrepancies

  1. At reconciliation time we appeared to have two missing sealed ballot packs, highlighted above: one R005 and one D027. I am sure we had them to begin with. The sealed packs were kept in a secure area (in the gray supply bin behind the Ballot Table). Maybe we somehow accidentally packed them in an inapproriate place at end-of-day and then could not find them at reconciliation time. Including those missing packs in the "Left at End" column (as is done above) fixes the main discrepancy.
  2. The final ATV number was probably 1 too low. During the day I had been able to do a count audit for the preceding 14 packs of 100 ATVs, but not the 15th pack, which may have had 41 instead of 40 ATVs. I should have had someone else do that count audit of the last pack at closeout when I was tied up with other things, but did not think of it at the time. Then during reconciliation we were spending our time trying to figure out the answer to item 1 above, the big discrepancy, not worrying about any small discrepancy that might have been caused by the ATV count being slightly off. I had found and we had corrected many ATV misnumberings during the day; they were all easily fixed. We had a good M100 vs. ATV match right up to 7:30. However we then had to process MANY voters after that time, including one that turned into an emergency bin situation. The error likely occurred in that post-7:30 period when we were still handling all those lined up voters. If there was an undetected ATV misnumbering in the final ATV pack (1 too low) and it had been corrected to lead to a final ATV count of 1441, then the ATV count and the M100 + emergency bin count would have matched.
  3. The remaining discrepancy, the 1 ballot mismatch between the adjusted Used ballots count vs. the M100 count, is very likely just a human counting or ballot pack weighing problem, which we have seen many times in past elections.

Last Updated:   3/16/16  16:30

Home