Ballot Count Reconciliation for 11/3/2020
Sometimes the ballot packs do not contain exactly 100 ballots. If any packs are opened that do not contain exactly 100 ballots, this can cause the "Returned Ballots" (the ballot inventory) part of the "Reconciliation Form" not to balance. This happens less often than in the past and the WCBOE is not interested in tracking the exact counts for this inventory. If the inventory discrepancy is only a few ballots and the count of the ballots left (see below) is accurate, all we can report is that probably some packs were defective.
At the end of the day, complete the worksheet below. The rows
specify the ballot styles within each box. It is important not to mix
together different ballot styles and boxes when entering the counts.
Of course some of the calculations may differ a
little from reality if all the associated packs do not contain exactly
100 ballots.
- Delivered:
- This is the count on the ballot box label and will already be filled in by me before election day. It is the assumed count of the delivered ballots (for that style for that box).
- Loose:
- Record the count of loose ballots remaining (for that style for that box). Loose ballots are the ballots from an opened pack that were not ever distributed from the Ballot Table.
- Unopened:
- Record the count of ballots from the unopened packs (for that style for that box), assuming 100 ballots per pack.
- Left:
- Record the sum of the "Loose" plus "Unopened" counts. This is the total count of all the undistributed ballots (for that style for that box).
- Used:
- Record the difference between the "Delivered" and "Left" counts. This is the assumed number of ballots that were distributed (for that style for that box).
Calculate the totals for the "Used" and "Left" columns. The total for the "Delivered" column will already be filled in. Verify that the "Used" total does equal the difference between the "Delivered" and "Left" totals. If they don't match, recheck the row and column calculations; at least one is wrong.
Record and total the number of ballots used for Emergency Bin, Provisional, Spoiled, and Challenged processing. These should be all the ballots not counted by the DS200. Subtract this total from the "Used" total. The result should match the "TOTAL BALLOTS" number printed on the DS200 tape. Also, the number of the last ATV minus the number of ballots in the Emergency Bin should match the "TOTAL BALLOTS" number printed on the DS200 tape.
For the 11/3/2020 election there was 1 ballot style for precinct 19-19. Nominally 3500 ballots were delivered.
•-> -
¦ 24 ¦ ======= (from DS200 totals tape) ¦ Emergency Bin: 0 ¦ 612 vs. DS200 "TOTAL BALLOTS": 612 <-• ¦ ¦ Provisional: 16 ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Spoiled: 8 ¦ Number on last ATV: 612 ¦ ¦ ¦ Challenged: 0 ¦ Emergency Bin: - 0 ¦ === ¦ ======= ¦ ¦ ¦ Total not counted by DS200: 24 >--• Calculated DS200 number: 612 vs. >-•Example of Completing a Ballot Count Reconciliation Worksheet
In this example, two ballot styles (A021 and B055) were used. Nominally 3500 ballots were distributed in six ballot boxes as shown in the "Delivered" column.
For the first box, all the packs were opened for both ballot styles and all those ballots were distributed, leaving no packs unopened (0 ballots under "Unopened") and 0 ballots loose for both ballot styles. No ballots were undistributed, i.e., Left" = "Loose" + "Unopened" = 0. All the "Delivered" ballots were distributed, so "Used" = "Delivered" - "Left" = "Delivered" for both ballot styles.
For the second box, for ballot style A021, only one of the three packs was opened and most of the ballots from that pack were distributed, leaving only five loose A021 ballots and 200 still in the two unopened A021 packs. "Left" = "Loose" + "Unopened" = 5 + 200 = 205. For this ballot style, "Used" = "Delivered" - "Left" = 300 - 205 = 95.
For the second box, for ballot style B055, all three packs were opened. All ballots from the first two packs were distributed as well as a few from the last pack, leaving 92 loose B055 ballots and none in unopened packs. "Left" = "Loose" + "Unopened" = 92 + 0 = 92. For this ballot style, "Used" = "Delivered" - "Left" = 300 - 92 = 208.
For boxes 3, 4, 5, and 6, none of the packs were opened, leaving all 600 ballots undistributed and 0 used for the sole ballot style in each box of those boxes.
For the ballots NOT counted by the DS200, assume 0 in the Emergency Bin, 13 Provisional, 10 Spoiled, and 0 Challenged -- a total of 23 ballots. Also, assume the TOTAL BALLOTS printed on the DS200 tape is 780; this is the number of ballots actually read by the DS200. Also assume in this example that 780 is the number of the last ATV. See Overview of Ballot Count Reconciliation for more on the following two tests and a diagram of how this all ties together.
TEST 1: When the "Ballots Not Counted" number is subtracted from the number of "Used" (distributed) ballots, the result should match the TOTAL BALLOTS number printed on the DS200 tape.
TEST 2: The number of the last ATV minus the number of ballots in the Emergency Bin should match the TOTAL BALLOTS number printed on the DS200 tape. In fact this is the more important check.
Box 2: A021: 300 205 95 5 200 B055: 300 92 208 92 0
Box 3: A021: 600 600 0 0 600 Box 4: A021: 600 600 0 0 600 Box 5: B055: 600 600 0 0 600 Box 6: B055: 600 600 0 0 600 ====== ======= ======= Totals: 3500 - 2697 = 803 vs. M and I on Reconciliation Form
•-> - 23
¦ ¦ ======= (from DS200 totals tape) ¦ Emergency Bin: 0 ¦ 780 vs. DS200 "TOTAL BALLOTS": 780 <-• ¦ ¦ Provisional: 13 ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Spoiled: 10 ¦ Number on last ATV: 780 ¦ ¦ ¦ Challenged: 0 ¦ Emergency Bin: - 0 ¦ === ¦ ======= ¦ ¦ ¦ Total not counted by DS200: 23 >--• Calculated DS200 number: 780 vs. >-•Last Updated:
