Ballot Judge Queue

To access: Ballot By Mail > Ballot Judge Queue

Texas law requires that the Signature Verification Committee (SVC) compare the signature image(s) from the voter’s record to the signature on the voter’s mail ballot returned envelope. During the Returned Ballots Queue validation, if signatures from the voter’s record and the voter’s mail ballot returned envelope do not or may not match, the SVC member clicks Question to move the images from the Returned Ballots Queue to the Ballot Judge Queue. An Early Voting Ballot Board (EVBB) judge reviews this queue for final determination on ballot acceptance.

Important: This queue is only available when Allow Rejection in Return Ballots Queue is not selected on the System Options > Ballot By Mail tab. This system option is selected for counties that reject ballots from the Return Ballots Queue instead of routing ballots with questionable and invalid signatures to the Ballot Judge Queue for review by an EVBB judge. Selecting this system option removes the Ballot Judge Queue from the Ballot By Mail tab.

Double-click a row in the queue. The Judge Ballot dialog displays the scanned signatures from the ABBM and ballot envelope.

Tip: To review the procedure for using this dialog, see Compare Signatures in the Ballot Judge Queue.

Fields and Controls on these Dialogs

Ballot Judge Queue Dialog
Filters and Pagination

You can use the following to locate the row of the voter whose signature you want to compare:

  • The filters above the grid to narrow the items that are listed.
  • The arrows at the bottom of the dialog to navigate between pages.

Select Image

 Display the Judge Ballot dialog showing the scanned signatures from the voter's record and ballot envelope.
Judge Ballot Dialog
Voter Signatures & Ballot Signature boxes Do the following:
  • Double-click in either box to view the entire image or re-capture the signature if not clipped correctly.
  • Scroll through the images in the Voters Signature box using the right and left arrows.
  • Click Voters on the toolbar to review all signature images on record for a voter on the Voter Registration > Voter Maintenance > Comms or Doc Images tab.

Accept

 If you are certain the signatures are those of the same voter, accept the ballot and remove the row from the Return Ballots Queue.
Note: The Accept button is not available when certain errors are produced. See About Return Ballot Validation for more information.
Reject Disqualify the ballot. The following occurs:
  • The record is removed from the queue.
  • The Voter Activity Date is updated to the current date and displayed on the Activity tab in Voter Maintenance.
  • A new row is added to the Ballot By Mail tab in Voter Maintenance indicating the ballot was rejected.
  • The Absentee Reject Letter, including the rejection reason, is scheduled to send to the voter.
Rejection Reason Associate a reason for the rejection.
  • See About Returned Ballot Rejections for more information about reasons and rejections.
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    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.