* *** EXPRESSVOTE_CONSIDERATIONS TXT - 23 Jan 2024 11:34:57 - JGKNAUTH [1/23/24: Corrected "Help Table" to "Ballot Table"] The ExpressVote system replaces the AutoMARK system as the facility disabled voters can use to print a ballot provided by the Ballot Table. The ExpressVote is smaller and more durable than the AutoMARK. However ExpressVote ballots (sometimes called "cards") are different from the regular ballots most voters receive -- different size and different paper. This causes some procedural changes. Here is a summary of some ExpressVote considerations. 1) As with the AutoMARK, the BOE allows ANY voter to use the ExpressVote. This hasn't been a problem in the past; in the five polling places I have worked at, only disabled voters have asked to use the HAVA machine (formerly AutoMARK, now ExpressVote). However if many non-disabled voters start to ask to use this HAVA machine, the limited number of available ExpressVote ballots, the time it takes each voter to use the system, and the time needed for Precinct Officials to assist could be a problem. 2) The ExpressVote is more complicated to set up and take down, e.g., it requires the Chief Judge to enter a special code (a password) and otherwise do more work with Assistants than the AutoMARK required. 3) The Ballot Table Officials must now handle ExpressVote ballots in addition to regular ballots. An Official, probably a Voter Assistant, is called over whenever a voter requests an ExpressVote ballot. Then the BT Official writes our precinct number and the intended ballot style on the back of the ballot before giving it to the Official. The style is from the ATV just as if you were giving the voter a regular ballot of that style. As usual, record that style on the ATV as the ballot style issued, then number and spindle the ATV. The Assistant will take the voter and ballot to the ExpressVote. 4) There is still no documentation explaining how the voter actually uses the ExpressVote, e.g., for navigating thru the ballot, selecting/deselecting choices, controlling volume, causing the print to start after all choices have been made, etc. Supposedly this is all self-explanatory via screen messages, markings on the keypad, and things heard thru the headphones. I'm surprised ES&S does not provide a video, which could be linked to on the PO website. 5) After the voter enters the blank ballot into the ExpressVote slot, a screen message tells the Official how to eject the ballot if the Official forgot to check the ballot style on the back of the blank ballot before the voter put it into the ExpressVote. The Official must know the desired ballot style so it can be selected in a dialog that occurs AFTER the blank ballot has been entered. The ExpressVote needs that style data in order to display the correct ballot information to the voter. 6) After the voter has caused the ExpressVote to print the ballot and it has been ejected, the voter (maybe with assistance from the Official) takes the ballot to the Tabulator and inserts it. There is a special slot in the Tabulator for inserting ExpressVote ballots. It's the small slot near the top of the tray; there is a big arrow on the tray pointing upward to it. In recent past elections we covered that slot and its big arrow with a sign having a different arrow; the sign's arrow instead points downward to the large slot midway up the tray. The large slot is used for regular ballots. The intent was to prevent voters from seeing two slots, each with a big arrow on the tray, and wondering which slot to use; that had been the case and a problem before we started covering the small slot. In those past elections, only regular ballots were used, even by the AutoMARK. Thus only one slot was ever to be used. The extraneous small slot and arrow pointing to it was just a source of confusion. However in this and future elections we may now also have voters with ExpressVote ballots. We'll continue to cover the small slot with the arrow sign described above to prevent slot confusion for the voters using regular ballots, i.e., almost all the voters. Our Tabulator Monitor will watch for any voter with an ExpressVote ballot and point them to the small slot under the sign, which can be folded out of the way to uncover the small slot. In fact ExpressVote ballots can also be put in the large slot, but they are more likely to go in at an angle and be kicked out for a retry. It is better to just direct ExpressVote voters to use the small slot, which is designed for ExpressVote ballots. There should be few, if any, such voters, so this special handling shouldn't be a problem. 7) [1/23/24: Removed text that this is the first ExpressVote election] When the voted ballots bin is full (1500 ballots) or at poll closing, we empty the bin and pack the ballots in boxes. We are required to go thru all the ballots from the bin and sort out the ExpressVote ballots so they can be packed on top in one of the boxes. From what I have seen, this does not look too easy. In most past elections, only the Chief Judge and the two Judges were allowed to touch voted ballots. If the ExpressVote sorting looks like it might take too much time, the BOE Staff now says other Precinct Officials can assist, under supervision of the Chief Judge. Fortunately there is an easy (pretty hidden and still undocumented) way to query the Tabulator to see how many ExpressVote ballots it has counted up to that point. There is a small, unlabeled, rounded button (the "secret" button) on the display with "Welcome. Please insert your ballot." It is just to the left of the "Public Count" label. Touching it produces a popup. One line displays the total number of ballots ("papersheets" -- sometimes BOE and ES&S use "papersheets" and sometimes "paper sheets"). This is the current sum of regular AND ExpressVote ballots. A second line displays the current count of just the ExpressVote ballots ("cards"). Thus we will know how many to look for in the bin. If the ExpressVote count is 0, no ExpressVote ballot search is required for this emptying. [1/23/24: Clarified last sentence above] The count is cumulative. At the first 1500-ballot bin emptying, it displays the exact number of ExpressVote ballots to be searched for. However at a second emptying, e.g., at the end of the day, you need to know how many ExpressVote ballots were counted at previous emptyings so the current count can be reduced to determine how many ExpressVote ballots are in the bin for this emptying. Note that at poll closing the cumulative ExpressVote count is printed on all the tapes, so for that bin emptying the cumulative count is easy to find without depending on the "secret" button. 8) At poll closing, for reconciliation the Ballot Table Officials must account for all the ExpressVote ballots, almost like a new ballot style. See my "Ballot Count Reconciliation" worksheet, which has been updated to cover ExpressVote: http://jgkhome.name/WakeBOE/Ballot_Count_Reconciliation_Template.htm Note that ExpressVote ballots come in packs of 25 vs the packs of 100 for regular ballots. The count of "left" ExpressVote ballots is combined with the number of "left" regular ballots of all styles to produce the total of all "left" ballots. This "left" total is used to complete the Reconciliation Form as in previous elections. See below. 9) The Tabulator tape provides the total number of ballots the Tabulator has counted ("Total Papersheets"), i.e., the sum of both regular and Expressvote ballots. To this is added the Emergency bin count to give the total number of voted ballots at the Tabulator. As in prior elections, that should match the last ATV number. Then to this count of voted ballots we add the numbers of spoiled, provisional, and challenged ballots to produce the number of "used" ballots (fields I and K). The number of "delivered" ballots (aka "ballots issued from the BOE", field J) includes all regular and ExpressVote ballots. Finally we subtract "used" from "delivered" to produce "left", field L. The result should equal the "left" total reported by the Ballot Table (field M); see item above. As in past elections, there may be a small discrepancy if the opened ballot packs did not contain exactly the expected number of ballots (regular = 100 and ExpressVote = 25). Thus all the calculations will be much like in previous elections. However we will now have two types of ballots to deal with, regular and ExpressVote, whose counts get combined early in the process. 10) There is a special orange box containing the unvoted ExpressVote ballots. At poll closing this box will be sealed with an "Unvoted Ballots" label, just like the other boxes of unvoted ballots. The orange box goes in the Chief Judge Supply bag, which is already VERY full in a large election. The BOE Staff has been asked and still not made clear some things about the orange box. (There has been conflicting information.) Should that box be counted as one of the unvoted ballot boxes along with all the boxes of unvoted regular ballots? Should anything special be recorded in the label on the orange box or should the number fields just be left blank? Presumably the label must be signed by the three Judges. Jeff Knauth, Chief Judge for Precinct 19-19 [1/23/24: I also made some minor editorial fixes to the version I had posted on 1/21/24. These are not flagged.]