Absentee Totals for an Election
To run: REPORTING > Reports > Vote-By-Mail Reports > Summary Totals Reports > Absentee Totals for an Election
This is a key report for tracking totals of Vote-By-Mail Requests and ballots returned. During busy times, this report is typically run daily. Compare the totals on this report with your manual tabulations.
This is a resource-intensive report. If you have issues running it on a workstation, we recommend you run it from your Voter Focus server machine at a time when other resource-intensive programs are not also running.
As you review the report, bear in mind that it is not a cause for concern if totals in the various columns drop from one day to the next. Any number of changes can make this happen. For example, totals will be affected should a voter switch from civilian to military status or move to another county, rendering them ineligible to Vote By Mail in your county.
When you run the report, you are asked to choose an election. Then specify a starting and ending date for the period you are interested in. The period can be just one day, or you can specify a longer date range.
The report has three parts:
Opening Totals— Vote-By-Mail Requests, ballots delivered, and ballots returned from the date when the election was created up to the start date you specify for the report.
This Period's Activity— Vote-By-Mail activity for the selected date range.
Closing Totals—The Opening Totals plus the totals for This Period's Activity.
A detailed description of each section can be found below the report example at the end of this topic.
The purpose of this report is to make reconciliation of mail ballots to tabulation totals easier for interested parties to understand. The only thing that needs to be explained is that this is a count of affidavit envelopes that have been accepted.
The tabulation total might be reduced by the following problems with the ballots:
- More than one ballot might be in an envelope. This spoils the ballot.
- No ballots could be in the envelope.
- The ballot in the envelope could not be read. On some occasions, the Canvassing Board might recreate this ballot. This is at their discretion, assuming the voter's intent is clear.
- The ballot is returned undeliverable.
This report splits military and civilian domestic voters from military and civilian overseas voters. This is because the Federal government is increasingly interested in UOCAVA voters. Voters' overseas status for an election is defined by their Vote-By-Mail address for the ballot at the time when the most recent mail ballot label or envelope was printed.
If the selected election is set up for advance ballots, the report will include advance ballot data.
Numbers in parentheses are subtracted adjustments.
For a breakdown of the totals for canceled and ineligible requests, run the report Canceled and Ineligible Absentee Requests.
A Description of Each Section in the Report
Opening Totals
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Absentee Requests |
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Voters requesting absentee ballots |
— |
Canceled and Ineligible absentee requests |
= |
Adjusted total of absentee requests |
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Ballots Delivered/Mailed |
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Absentee requests sent first absentee ballot |
+ |
Replacement absentee ballots issued |
— |
Ballots issued to requests that were canceled |
= |
Total absentee ballots issued to valid requests |
|
Advance ballots mailed |
This line is not tabulated with other data in this section. |
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Ballots Returned |
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|
Advance ballots returned |
— |
Voters who returned both advance and absentee ballots |
= |
Adjusted total of advance ballots returned |
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Absentee ballots returned |
— |
|
= |
Total
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This Period's Activity
The items under this heading (Voters requesting Absentee ballots, etc.) are independent of each other. These items are not totaled vertically; only horizontally.
|
Ballots Returned |
|
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Advance ballots returned |
+ |
Absentee ballots returned |
— |
|
= |
Net increase in ballots to be tabulated |
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Absentee ballots returned |
— |
|
+ |
Ballots returned in this period reinstated by Cnvssng Brd |
= |
Net increase in ballots to be tabulated |
||
Closing Totals
|
Absentee Requests |
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|
Voters requesting absentee ballots |
— |
Canceled and Ineligible absentee requests |
= |
Adjusted total of absentee requests |
|
|
|
Ballots Delivered/Mailed |
||||||
|
Absentee requests sent first absentee ballot |
+ |
Replacement absentee ballots issued |
— |
Ballots issued to requests that were canceled |
= |
Total absentee ballots issued to valid requests |
|
Advance ballots mailed |
This line is not tabulated with other data in this section. |
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Ballots Returned |
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|
Advance ballots returned |
— |
Voters who returned both advance and absentee ballots |
= |
Adjusted total of advance ballots returned |
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|
Absentee ballots returned |
— |
|
= |
Total
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