Assign Ballot Styles

Once an election's ballot styles have been created in Voter Focus, you will need to assign those ballot styles to the precincts and precinct splits voting in the election.

For general elections, only one ballot style can be assigned to a precinct or precinct split. For primary elections, ballot styles are assigned to the party that was set up and flagged for the election.

State law requires that each precinct be assigned a unique ballot style so that precinct-level voting can be reported. The law does not require that precinct splits have unique ballot styles, although separate ballot styles are necessary if the races/issues in the precinct splits vary from the precinct races. When the races/issues are the same, the precinct splits can use the same ballot style as the precinct.

After the candidate qualifying period has closed, we recommend you review your ballot styles and make any adjustments that might be necessary. For example, if no candidate qualified for a minor party race, you could delete the ballot for that race.

Prior to the assignment of ballot styles to precincts (and designation of the federal election style for Fed Elections Only voters), voters who make a Ballot By Mail request for the election will have XXX in the Style column on the Ballot By Mail tab of their record. When the Deliver Ballot runs are performed, the system evaluates the voter's status, party, and precinct to determine their eligibility and ballot style. If the voter is eligible, the XXX placeholder is replaced by the appropriate ballot style.

  1. Ensure that the election is the focused election. If not, click Change Election Status on the Console and select the election.
  2. Go to ELECTIONS > Maintain Election Settings > Ballot Styles > Assign Ballot Styles to Precincts. The Election Precinct Details dialog appears with a list of all county precincts displayed at the top of the dialog. This dialog's appearance differs depending on whether the election is a primary or a general election.
  3. If certain precincts or precinct splits are not voting in this election, do one of the following:
    • Select the first non-voting precinct/precinct split and clear the Voting check box. Repeat this step for all non-voting precincts/precinct splits.
    • For general election in which most precincts in the county are not voting, click Make All Precincts Non-Voting to clear the Voting check box for all precincts and precinct splits. Then select the Voting option for those that are voting.

      The Voting column in the list of precincts displays Y or N to indicate whether the precinct/precinct split is voting.

  4. Select the first precinct that is voting.
  5. In the Ballot Style field, select a ballot style from the drop-down list. Your selection(s) will appear in the Style column in the list of precincts.
  6. If needed, complete entries in the Combine with Precinct, Number of Books, or Override Polling Place for this Election field. These fields are optional.
  7. Click Close when you are finished making ballot style assignments.

The following procedure both creates and assigns ballot styles automatically.

  1. Ensure that the election you want to ballot styles for is the focused election. If not, click Change Election Status on the Console and select the election.
  2. Go to ELECTIONS > Maintain Election Settings > Ballot Styles > Set Up Ballot Styles.
  3. On the List of Ballot Styles dialog, click Auto Create and Assign Styles.
    4. Note: This option is disabled when the election in focus is past dated.

    The system automatically creates and assigns ballot styles based on the districts that are holding an election. The ballot style numbers begin with 1. A style is created for each unique set of precincts and precinct splits that are voting in the election. The ballots are then assigned to their respective precincts. The automatic ballot creation and assignment is entered in Election Reports > Election Audit Display with a description of AutoAssignStyle in the Procedure column as well as the operator name.

    Important:
    • It is crucial that the desired districts are properly set up for the election in Election Maintenance Settings > Election Maintenance prior to using this automatic operation.
    • All previously created ballot styles and assignments for the election are overwritten by this automatic function. For this reason, you are prompted to confirm the operation.