Early Pack-Up Items When Only Provisional Voters Are Left

Last Updated:   1/16/24  00:54

Suppose there are only provisional voters to be processed after poll closing at 7:30. (Unfortunately this seems to happen often, e.g., as it did for 19-19 on 11/7/23.) Then some packing up can be done before these voters exit. For this to be possible, it must be that the HT has interacted with all the remaining voters and done everything needed to guarantee they are truly provisional and have no further need of the RT, BT, ExpressVote, or curbside services.

After 7:30 no more curbside or non-curbside voters are allowed in line. Of course if there is still a line of voters, including curbside, who have not yet been carefully checked, it cannot be assumed they are all provisional, so no early pack-up would be done in that case. For the following, assume all the remaining voters have been verified to be provisional.

At SCES the HT and all the pollbooths are in the back of the Voting Enclosure. Given that layout, if it is known that the only remaining voters are truly provisional, some packing-up procedures COULD get underway without disrupting the provisional voters. This could be done without waiting another ten or so minutes, maybe much more, for the provisional voters to finish and leave the voting enclosure. The layouts for other polling places might mean more or fewer of the following items could be done, but this breakdown seems pretty straightforward for SCES.

Can Do If the Only Remaining Voters Are Provisional

  1. Chief Judge shuts down the ExpressVote.
  2. Assistants pack up the ExpressVote and its table.
  3. Assistants take down signs, floor markers, Tabulator rug, etc. in the front of the room.
  4. Assistants bring in outside curbside items and outside signs.
  5. Assistants put inside curbside items in the VA kit and leave it at the Curbside Table.
  6. Assistants and Chief Judge organize the Curbside Table and CJ Table to be the WCBOE Table and Jeff's Table. Pack everything currently on those tables and put identifier signs on them.
  7. Chief Judge moves the CJ car to where loading will take place.
  8. Assistants load many of the Jeff's Table items into the front of the CJ car.
  9. RT Officials close down the RT:  Pack up the pollbooks and ATVs, take down the RT signs, put things back in the RT kit. Leave all the packed-up items and forms neatly on the RT for now.
  10. BT Officials close down the BT:  Do the ballot inventory, take down the BT signs, pack up the scanner, put things back in the BT kit. Empty the gray bin. Leave all the ballot boxes, bags, packed up items, scanner box, and forms neatly on the BT for now. By this time the HT should have gotten any ballots required by the provisional voters. However even provisional voters make ballot marking mistakes -- infrequent, but handled below.
  11. Chief Judge audits the last set of ATVs.
  12. Judges sign the last ATV.
  13. Judges process the white bag(s) and spoiled bag, including sealing the white bag(s).
  14. Judges seal almost all the unvoted ballots boxes. One or more boxes must be left open in case the provisional voter(s) make ballot marking mistakes. The mismarked ballots must be spoiled and replaced. Adjustments will have to be made later (suppress curses and see the next section).

Cannot Do until All Voters Have Left the Voting Enclosure

We COULD NOT do the following procedures, since they would involve things needed by the provisional voters, or be too close to the voters, or be noisy and maybe disruptive.

  1. Seal any remaining opened unvoted ballots boxes and, if spoiled ballots were generated by the provisional voter(s), update the label on the Spoiled bag as well as the ballot inventory numbers on the worksheet and draft Reconciliation Form.
  2. Close down the HT.
  3. Move furniture.
  4. Take down any poll booths.
  5. Take down signs in the back of the room.
  6. Close down the Tabulator. This cannot be done earlier, even though the Tabulator is not needed by provisional voters. The public must be allowed to see Tabulator closedown, but the public is not allowed inside the Voting Enclosure until the last voter has left, which includes all the provisional voters.

Here are some editing notes.

  1. 11/27/23:  Handle when provisional voter(s) mismark ballots, which must be spoiled and replaced with other ballots.
  2. 1/16/24:  Reordered steps in first section.