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Mail In Envelope is screened. The
envelope is checked to make sure it is signed and that the box marked
"spoiled ballot" has not been marked. The voter who has not
signed his/her ballot is called and asked to come in and sign the
envelope. If the "spoiled ballot" box is marked, the person
is reissued a new ballot.
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The Mail In Envelope is scanned.
The scanner takes a picture of the signature on the envelope and
assigns a number to the envelope. This scanner will match the
signature on the envelope to the signature on the voter registration
on file. There are two people working at the scanner. One feeds
envelopes in and the other checks the sequence number when it comes
out. When at "batch" is completed, a paper denoting the
batch number, time run and tray number is signed and put in a bin
along with the scanned envelopes. The bin then goes to the next step
which is sorting.
Once an envelope has been through
this scanner, it is possible for an individual to call the
Registrar's office and find out if his/her vote has been received.
Starting in June, it will be possible to check on line to find out if
your vote has been received.
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If a signature is rejected, it is
sent to another area where the envelope signature and "on
file" signature is manually compared by experienced employees.
Most signatures are accepted, but if there is still a question the
envelope is reviewed by a panel of top management including Ms.
Seiler or Mr. Vu. An envelope may go through three boards before it
is finally rejected.
If it is early enough, a voter is
called and asked for a new signature. Otherwise the ballot will be NOT
be counted and the voter issued a new "affidavit" or
registration form to sign and mail in for the next election.
We are told that very few are
rejected completely. Benefit of the doubt is given to the voter. In
November 2006 there were 500 rejected out of 432,000.
After the envelope in question
has been accepted as valid, it is sent back to join the batch from
which it came.
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Envelopes Are Sorted By Precinct.
They are put in sequential order by precinct.
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Envelopes Are Sliced Open and
Ballots Extracted. The envelope is run through a slicing device with
envelope signatures facing away from the worker who then extracts the
ballots. The ballots are checked to see if they are spoiled (torn,
soiled, marked in red ink) and would not be able to be run through a scanner.
Ballots that can not be scanned
are put in boxes so that they can be "remade" on another
ballot so that it will be able to be fed through the scanner.
Ballots are put in bins on a cart
with wheels to go to the scanner.
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Ballots Are Scanned. Although
ballots are scanned beginning seven days before the election, the
results are stored in the tabulator and not released until 8:01 pm on
election night.
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Scanned ballots are stored in
boxes in locked caged area by precinct.
