New Provisional Ballot Entry

To access: ELECTIONS > Record Provisional Ballot

The New Provisional Ballot Entry dialog records provisional ballots that were issued during early voting or at the polls on election day. It is intended for after-the-fact recording of a provisional ballot, rather than the recording of a provisional ballot at the time it is issued to the voter. The dialog can also be used to record the disposition of ballots after being reviewed by the Ballot Board and any findings the election office has uncovered during research on the matter.

A DYMO label designed for a provisional ballot envelope is not printed when you record a provisional ballot from this dialog. The dialog is primarily intended for entry of a batch of provisional ballots that were processed offline (during early voting or at the polls on election day) or maintenance on existing provisional ballot records. For these situations, a label is not usually needed.

Tip: To review the procedure for using this dialog, see Record Provisional Ballots.

Fields and Controls on this Dialog

Tracking Number

Enter a unique number of up to 9 digits to identify this provisional ballot. Once you enter a tracking number and tab out of the field, the tracking number is disabled and cannot be changed.

Early Vote Provisional

Select this option if the provisional ballot is being issued during early voting. When enabled, the voting method that is exported for TEAM changes from Election Day (ED) to Early Vote (EV).

Select Location

Click this button to select from the list of voting locations.
Statutory Reason Select the reason that the provisional ballot was issued to the voter. The options available in this field are those mandated by state law and are maintained by VR Systems.
Voter's Assigned Precinct The voter's assigned precinct is shown and cannot be edited.
Ballot Style The precinct's assigned ballot style is shown and cannot be edited.
Ballot Number If you know the ballot number for this ballot, enter it here.

Investigation Conclusions

The reason for ballot acceptance or rejection:

Reason Accepted/Rejected
Voter presented acceptable form of identification or a supporting form of identification and... Accepted
Voter met disability exemption within 6 days of election day Accepted
Voter executed religious objection affidavit within 6 days of election day Accepted
Voter executed natural disaster affidavit within 6 days of election day Accepted
Voter did not satisfy identification or affidavit requirements, listed in categories 1-4... Rejected
Not a registered voter or registration not effective in time for this election Rejected
Registered to vote, erroneously listed in wrong precinct Rejected
Registered to vote in a different precinct within the county Rejected
Information on file indicating applicant completed a voter registration application, but it was never received... Accepted
Voter erroneously removed from the list Accepted
Voter is not registered to vote in political subdivision Rejected
Voter has already voted Rejected
Other (please explain) Accepted

Tabulation Status

Select the current status of the voter's ballot:

  • Pending—The Ballot Board has not yet made a decision on the validity of the ballot.
  • Rejected—The ballot was rejected by the Ballot Board.
  • Accepted—The ballot was accepted by the Ballot Board.

If the ballot is set as either Not Tabulated (rejected) or Tabulated (accepted) and the voter has no history of voting in any primary election for the current calendar year, the system sets the voter's party affiliation.

Findings

Use this field to record information gathered by the elections office as to the voter’s eligibility in this election or to document the reason for tabulation or rejection of a provisional ballot. You can insert a finding from the standard list, type in your own text, or add a standard finding and amend it.

Click to add Findings

This field provides a drop-down list of your county's standard "findings," which you can select to insert into the Findings field. These standard findings are maintained in VOTER FOCUS ADMIN > System Codes > Provisional Local Findings.

Print Referral Sheet

Prints a Provisional Referral Sheet to your default printer. This sheet includes the provisional type, voter information and signature clip, and the rejection reason and findings.

Save

Saves the provisional ballot record. The ballot images are indexed to the voter's record. Next, go to ELECTIONS > Reconcile History > Update Voting History to add the Voted Early by Provisional Ballot to the Elections tab in the voter's record.

Note: For ballots that are associated with a political party, whether the ballot is accepted or rejected, once the ballot is recorded, the party for that voter cannot be changed for the remainder of elections during the calendar year. Party affiliations can be cleared at the end of every calendar year in List Maintenance > List Maintenance Tasks.

Delete

Deletes the currently displayed provisional ballot record. This button is unavailable during the session when you create the record, but is enabled when you recall the record. Clicking Delete completely removes the provisional ballot record from the database. It’s intended to correct clerical errors.

Close

Closes the dialog without saving any changes.
Note:  Any provisional ballots that are accepted should be entered into the voting history for the election. See Process Voting History Data for instructions.

Reports and Notices

Reports and notices pertaining to provisional voting include: