Chief Judge Pocket Guide Errata

Last Updated:   9/8/24  11:56

Handling ExpressVote Ballots

When ballots are removed from the Counted Ballots Bin, the ExpressVote ballots must be separated from the regular ballots. This helps in post-election processing. At poll closing, the ExpressVote ballots must be packed on top of the regular ballots in one of the voted ballots boxes. To do this separation, it is very helpful to know how many ExpressVote ballots have been cast because the ExpressVote ballots may be hard to find among all the cast regular ballots.

There are two times when Precinct Officials must do this separation of ballots. Each requires a different procedure to find the total number of ExpressVote ballots cast by that time, i.e., the number cast by then since the polls were opened.

Time 1:   When the Counted Ballots Bin must be emptied after about 1500 ballots have been cast.

To find the total number of ExpressVote ballots cast so far, press the small oval button on the "Welcome. Please insert your ballot." screen. The button is immediately to the left of the "Public Count" text and has a tiny magnifying glass in it. The second line of the resulting pop-up specifies the number of "ExpressVote Cards" (ballots) cast since the polls were opened.

ExpressVote button ExpressVote popup count ExpressVote tape count

Time 2:   When the Counted Ballots Bin is emptied at poll closing.

At poll closing, five Tabulator tapes are printed. All these tapes list the "Total ExpressVote Cards" (ballots) cast since the polls were opened. These tapes are all the same, so you can use any one of them to find the ExpressVote number.

NOTE:  In both these cases, the number of ExpressVote ballots shown is the TOTAL number of such ballots cast since the polls were opened. Keep that in mind if the count must be found at two different times, perhaps once at a 1500-ballot bin emptying in the afternoon and then later at poll closing. The number of ExpressVote ballots expected to be in the bin at poll closing would be the difference between the poll closing count and the 1500-bin-emptying count because you removed all the ExpressVote ballots cast so far when you did the 1500-bin-emptying.

An easy way to handle this is just to keep all the ExpressVote ballots stacked together on top in one of the unsealed ballot boxes. When you think you have finished adding the last set of ExpressVote ballots to the stack, the number of ballots in the stack should now equal the count displayed by the latest of the above ways to find the total count. If it doesn't match, there are probably more ExpressVote ballots still to be found in the piles of voted ballots or you miscounted the stack.

WARNING:  Do not use the "Locating the ExpressVote Count on the Tabulator." procedure on page 21 of the Chief Judge Pocket Guide. If you mis-enter the "Tabulator code" three times, the Tabulator will shut down. The button procedure described above has no such problem.

Printing Tabulator Tapes

CJPG page 28:  Use the full Quick Reference to print tape 2. However to print tapes 3, 4, and 5, skip step 1, i.e., you do not select Report Options for printing the later tapes. The options menu remains visible after it is displayed for printing tape 2 and stays visible after each tape is printed. The button to select Report Options is no longer provided (or needed).

The Quick Reference text for Step 1 could say something like:

Just for tape 2, select Report Options on the Tabulator screen.
      (Skip this step when printing tapes 3, 4, and 5.)

Labeling the ExpressVote Box

CJPG page 32:  At poll closing, label the orange ExpressVote box as "Box 1 of 1". That box is separate from the X brown boxes of unvoted regular ballots, which are separately numbered as "Box 1 of X", "Box 2 of X", etc.


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