Manage Requests

A completed, submitted, and accepted ABBM allows voters in Texas to receive and cast a ballot by mail, email, or fax. To be able to cast an early voting absentee ballot, a qualified voter must fall into one of the following categories:

  • Is 65 years or older on election day
  • Has a disability, defined as a sickness or physical condition that prevents voting in person
  • Expects to give birth within three weeks before or after Election Day
  • Expects to be out of the county during voting hours
  • Is confined in jail 1) serving a misdemeanor sentence and will not be released prior to election day, 2) pending trial or an appeal of a conviction after denial of bail or without bail, or where release on bail before election day is unlikely

  • Is civilly committed under Chapter 841, Health and Safety Code

ABBMs can be submitted for a single election or as an annual request for all elections held in the calendar year. Only voters that are voting by mail on the grounds of age or disability may submit an Annual ABBM.

In STAR, you can manage both annual and regular ABBM requests.

The Import Annual Requests button in STAR automatically creates and accepts mail ballot requests for a specified election as well as schedule the ballot batch labels and bar codes in Notices.

You must first create and export the Annual ABBM Voters report from TEAM. Be sure to include the voters' residential and mailing addresses and generate the report as a CSV file.

Important: Be aware that for a voter's request to be imported and submitted successfully, a voter record must exist in STAR for the election you are processing using Import Voters.
  1. In STAR, click Import Annual Requests on the Home screen.

  2. Select the election that the voters are associated with.

  3. Click Choose File to browse to and select the CSV file.
    4. Note: In Windows File Explorer, the file type is listed as Microsoft Excel Comma Separated Values File.
  4. If the election day is in 30 days or less, by default, the import does not process requests. To bypass this default, select Ignore 30 Day Deadline.
    5. Important: Ignoring the deadline can potentially lead to ballot data.
  5. Click Submit. A preview of the what is expected from the import displays.

    • New Requests. The total number of requests that will be submitted and accepted for the selected election by the import.
    • Voter Updates. The total number of address or voter name information in STAR that will be updated for the selected election based on new information in the import file.

  6. Click Continue to add and accept the requests and schedule the labels and bar codes. A summary of the results displays.

    • Request Added. The total number of requests submitted and accepted by the import. Ballot Batch Labels and Ballot Bar Codes are also scheduled in Notices for these requests.
      • Important: Ballot Batch Labels that are scheduled must be printed before you export information for TEAM.
      Note: If a request already exists for a voter, the import does not add a second duplicate request.
    • Voter Updates. The total number of addresses in STAR that were updated for the selected election based on new address information in the import file.

  7. If needed, click Print Report to save a record of the import results.
  8. Click Close to complete the process.

Expand the sections below to learn how to send applications for Ballot by Mail to voters, and then process the returned, completed applications.

Note:

Election Lists — STAR requires you to select an election to perform certain actions. You can also filter by an election to locate voters. Each Election list in STAR retains your last selection. So, while processing applications and ballots for the same election, there is no need to change the Election value. It is already selected for you.

After you receive a request for an ABBM application, do the following:

  1. Click Voter Search on the Home screen.

  2. Use the filters to locate a voter. If multiple elections exist, include the Election filter to best refine the results. To display additional filters, click Advanced Search.

  3. Click Search to display the matching records sorted by last name. You can click any column header to sort the results by that column in ascending or descending order.
    4. Note: For partial matches, the results are those that begin with your search criteria.

    If needed, navigate through the list to find a voter. At the bottom of the screen, you can go to more pages.

  4. Click the voter’s VUID number. If you did not use the Election filter and the voter is listed for multiple elections, be careful to click the VUID for the correct election.

    5. Details about the voter display in the top portion of the screen.

    Tip: If you need to return to the Voter Search filters, click the Back button in your browser.
  5. If the voter indicated a different mailing address than what appears in Voter Details, click Edit in the Location box, enter the new address, and click Submit.

  6. Click Print Application in the Election box.

  7. Select how to print the voter's application, bar code, and mailing label.
    • Print Now. Save PDF files to the Downloads folder on your machine and display the PDFs in new browser tabs.
    • Schedule. Send the application, bar code, and mailing label to the Notices queue for print at a later time.

    8. Note:
    • Selecting Remember my selection retains your preference and hides this dialog for the duration of your current STAR session.
    • When you select Print Now, nothing is scheduled for the event in the Notices queue.
    • For more information about the mailing labels and ballot bar code notices, see What's Included with Each Notice Type?.
  8. Do one of the following:
    • If you selected Print Now:
      • Bar Code & Mailing Label. The voter's ballot bar code and mailing label are displayed in a new browser tab and saved in your Downloads folder in PDF format.
      • Application. A blank ABBM application displays in PDF format in a new browser tab. The PDF file is also saved in the Downloads folder on your machine so you have a copy for your records and can reprint, if needed.

      • Note:

      Notice that the Voter Details area is updated with the status event Application Printed and the date and time of the event. Each time you process an application or ballot event, Voter Details is updated accordingly. See Status Filter and Event Status Details for more information.

      For printing instructions, see Print Applications, Rejection Letters, Bar Codes, and Labels.

    • If you selected Schedule on the Print Options dialog, see Print Notices for instructions.
    Note: If you need to replace a label that was printed and was later lost or damaged, see Reprint Labels for instructions.

After a voter has completed, signed, and returned the mail ballot request, do the following:

  1. Click Voter Search on the Home screen.
  2. As a best practice, we recommend selecting the applicable election from the Election filter.
    3. Note: For annual applications, you may prefer not using the Election filter if you will be adding requests for multiple elections for the voter.
  3. To further refine the search results at this stage, click Advanced Search and select Application Printed from the Status filter.
  4. Click Search to display the matching records sorted by last name. You can click any column header to sort the results by that column in ascending or descending order.
    5. Note: For partial matches, the results are those that begin with your search criteria.
  5. Navigate through the list to find a voter.
    • The default sort order is alphabetical by last name.
    • Click any column header to sort the list by that column in ascending or descending order.
    • At the bottom of the screen, you can go to more pages.
  6. Click the voter’s VUID number. If you did not use the Election filter and the voter is listed for multiple elections, be careful to click the VUID for the correct election.

    7. Details about the voter display in the top portion of the screen.

Tip: If you need to return to the Voter Search filters, click the Back arrow in your browser.

After associating a voter and election to an application, you then accept or reject the request.

  1. Click Add Request below Voter Details.
    2. Tip: If you do not see the Add Request button, a ballot for this voter and election was already added (marked as returned). So, you are unable to add another request.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • Accept request
      1. Compare the mailing address in Voter Details against the mailing address in the application.
      2. If the application contains a different address, click Edit in the Location box, enter the new mailing address, and click Submit.

      3. Select from the Accepted list the reason the voter is eligible to vote by mail.
      4. Click Accept.
    • Reject request
      1. Select from the Rejected list the reason the application cannot be accepted.
      2. Click Reject.

    Important: You can reject a request for an election up to three times, after which a message displays that the maximum number has been reached. At this point, no further requests can be added for the voter and election combination.
  3. Select how to print the ballot bar code and ballot labels (accepted applications) or rejection letter and mailing label (rejected applications).
    • Print Now. Save PDF files to the Downloads folder on your machine and display the PDFs in new browser tabs.
    • Schedule. Send the print objects to the Notices queue for print at a later time.

    4. Note:
    • Selecting Remember my selection retains your preference and hides this dialog for the duration of your current STAR session.
    • When you select Print Now, nothing is scheduled for the event in the Notices queue.
    • For more information about the ballot label, ballot bar code, and request rejection letter notices, see What's Included with Each Notice Type?.
  4. Do one of the following:
    • If you selected Print Now, the following are displayed in a new browser tab and saved in your Downloads folder in PDF format:
      • Accepted applications — Bar code and ballot labels in one PDF
      • Rejected applications —
        • Ballot bar code and mailing label in one PDF.
        • Rejection letter in a second PDF.
      • Note:

      Notice that the Voter Details area is updated with the status event and the date and time of the event. See Status Filter and Event Status Details for more information.

      For printing instructions, see Print Applications, Rejection Letters, Bar Codes, and Labels.

    • If you selected Schedule on the Print Options dialog, see Print Notices for instructions.
    5. Note: If you need to replace a label that was printed and was later lost or damaged, see Reprint Labels for instructions.

Cancel an Accepted Application

There are two ways to cancel an accepted application in the event a voter submits a second application that replaces the original.

  • Simply add, and then accept or reject a second request.
  • Click Cancel in the row for the accepted request.

Either method cancels the original accepted request and scheduled notices. The status of the original row changes from Accepted to Cancelled.

These methods are possible provided the Ballot Disposition button is not enabled in the Ballots section of the screen. (The button is enabled after recording the ballot from the accepted request as returned.) This is to prevent accidental request cancellations.