Process Voting History Data
The final phase of an election cycle is devoted to processing of the
county's voting history data. During this phase, elections officials complete
the entry of all voting activities into the county database— Vote-By-Mail ballots are returned,
provisional ballots are accepted or rejected, precinct registers are
swiped, and data from EViD stations is processed.
When the activity for each precinct is recorded, it is totaled and reconciled
with the balloting totals from the tabulation system, as required by statute.
Any differences between the two sets of totals should be resolved. If
a perfect reconciliation is not possible, the reasons for any differences
should be determined and clearly documented as part of the election record.
The objectives are:
- To ensure that all voters who voted will get credit for doing
so.
- To verify that there are no duplicate votes or other irregularities.
Once all totals are reconciled, the last step is to run
the Update Voting History program. This program sends a voting history
file to FVRS, providing the State with voting history data and transfers
voting data from temporary working files to individual voter's records.
From the moment the polls close, you will probably receive requests
for voter turnout data from candidates and the press. To provide this
information, you must first run the Update Voting History program to distribute
the voting history results into voter records. Once this is done, you
can then run the requested reports. You need not wait until all processing
and reconciliation is complete, though. You can run the Update Voting
History program at convenient intervals, as voting historical data is
processed.
When the Update Voting History program is run for the last time, you
should then print and archive the election reports. For a list of the
reports we recommend archiving, see Reports
to Archive After an Election.
Note: Do not
undertake any reorganization of precincts until after the election reports
are printed.
The following tasks must be completed in order to complete the final
run of the Update Voting History program. These tasks are typically performed
simultaneously by various groups in the elections office. As noted above,
you can create preliminary voting history files before all these tasks
are complete.
Note: The topic
Voting History
Reminders lists some suggestions and things to keep in mind when you
are doing voting history processing.
Return Process Mail Ballots
All mail ballots, whether returned from voters or returned by the postal
service as undeliverable, should be processed as returned using Vote-By-Mail > Return Ballots
(or Return Ballots from Relia-Vote/Return
Ballots from Envelope Reader). (See Record the Return of Mail Ballots for instructions.) Even ballots
that were returned too late to be counted in the tabulation totals should
be return processed so the voters will receive credit for voting. For
these ballots you should assign a referral reason of Returned
Late.
Note: It is
important that all mail ballots be return processed through
Vote-By-Mail > Return Ballots (or Return
Ballots from Relia-Vote/Return Ballots from Envelope Reader). Do
not use the
Voting History Maintenance
dialog to record returned mail ballots.
Record Provisional
Ballots and Dispositions
All provisional ballots that were not recorded during early voting or
at polling places on election day should be recorded, along with their
disposition by the Canvassing Board, by going to ELECTIONS
> Record Provisional Ballot and using the New Provisional Ballot Entry dialog.
Note: Do not
use the
Voting History Maintenance
dialog to record
provisional ballots. However, you can use this dialog
to record the disposition of a
provisional ballot that has already been
entered into the system.
Perform
Post-Processing on EViD Stations
If your county used EViD stations to check in voters, verify that post-processing
has been completed on every EViD station used in the election, both for
early voting and election day.
Swipe Precinct Registers
The voting history of voters who voted at polling places is entered
by swiping the bar codes of voters who signed the precinct registers (register
history) and manually entering voter registration data for voters who
voted out-of-precinct (non-register history). The election status must
be Return Processing Only in order to do this. See Change an Election's Status for instructions.
Register history and non-register history may be entered in any order.
Many counties find it helpful to complete and reconcile each precinct
before going on to the next precinct.
Workers who are tasked with entering voting history from precinct registers
will need the user permission Register History. The user permission NonRegisterHistory
is needed by workers entering move-ins and other non-register check-ins,
which are usually handwritten into the blank pages at the back of precinct
registers.
Reconcile Totals
To reconcile the number of voters that were checked in with the totals
from your ballot tabulation system, you will need to be sure all of the
previous processing tasks described above are complete. Then you can run
the voting history reports described in this section. Any differences
between the two sets of totals should be rectified. If this is not possible,
the reasons for the differences should be clearly understood and documented
as part of the election record.
Note: We do
not recommend the use of reports produced in the FlexRep program for voting history
reconciliation. FlexRep reports can include voters who voted in another
county and then moved into your county the day after the election. In
such cases, the totals from FlexRep reports would not match tabulation
totals, and so the reports would not be useful for reconciliation.
Reconcile tabulation totals with voting history
totals:
- Print the report Voting
History vs Tabulation Results for the precinct and compare the
History total (that is, the sum of the Register and Non Register totals)
with the Tabulation total, which is the total recorded by the tabulation
system. The amount shown in the row labeled Difference should be 0
(zero).
If there are differences, recheck the precinct
registers and verify that all voting voters and no non-voting voters were
swiped. To change the voting history for a voter, simply re-swipe their
bar code.
- Run the report Possible
Voting Irregularities and resolve issues reported there as much
as you can. You might find voters who appear to have voted both by
mail and at the polls, or voters who became ineligible on or just
before election day. This report often reveals processing errors,
rather than true irregularities in voting, so carefully research every
issue to determine its cause.
The reports Precinct Register Voting Details and the Precinct Register
Non-Voting Pages—both run from ELECTIONS
> Reconcile History > Reconciliation > Reports Precinct Register
Data Entry—can be useful in pinpointing the cause of totals that
don't balance. The report Non-Register
Voting can also be helpful with reconciliation.
Run the Update Voting History Program
Once the voting history totals are reconciled with the tabulation totals,
the next step is to run the Update Voting History program. This program
sends a voting history file to FVRS, providing the State with voting history
data, which is required by law within 35 days of the election. The program
also transfers voting data from temporary working files to individual
voter's records. And it does several other housekeeping-type tasks within
the county database.
To run voting analysis reports that provide the demographic and turnout
information often requested by candidates and the press, you must first
run the Update Voting History program to distribute the voting history
results into voter records. Once this is done, you can then run the requested
reports at convenient intervals, as voting activity is processed.
The Update Voting History program has several functions:
- Creates a voting history file and puts the file in
a queue for automatic transmission to FVRS. The file is created in
the folder I:\Vr6Sharedbinaries\FVRS Upload under the file name <county
code>_VH01_<date>_<time>.
- Updates individual voters' records to show their voting
activity for this election (Voted, Early Voted, Voted Absentee, Absentee
Not Counted, Provisional Not Counted, Did not Vote, or Not Eligible.)
The Not Eligible status applies to city elections where only certain
voters were eligible.
- Cancels all-elections Vote-By-Mail requests for any
voter whose mail ballot was returned as undeliverable, except for
cases where the mail ballot for an upcoming election has already been
issued to the voter.
- Clears the ID Required
to Vote field in the records of any MARG voters who voted,
as they would have presented a photo ID in order to vote.
- Activates any Inactive voters who voted in the election.
- Optionally changes the voter registration status from
18(A)—Active-Address
Update Required to 1(A)—Active
for voters who voted. For these voters, the precinct register bears
the notation Address Update Required,
so they would have confirmed their residential address before being
allowed to vote.
- Optionally creates a Voting History Activity report
(per Rule 1S-2.043) and flags the voting history data as the final
version.
The Update Voting History program is one of the most resource intensive
programs in the Voter Focus system. We recommend that you run the program
on a quiet system, and
that you execute the program on the Voter Focus server.
Run the Update Voting History program:
- Ensure that the election is the focused election.
If not, click Change Election Status
on the Console and select the election.
- Go to ELECTIONS >
Reconcile History > Update Voting History > Update Voting History
to open the Full or Incremental
Update on FVRS dialog. If this is the first time you have run
the Voting History Update program, the dialog looks like this:
- Click OK
to prepare the voting history file for FVRS, updating the records
of voters who voted at the polls and/or provisionally. (The voting history
of voters who voted early or by mail ballot are updated as they are checked
in or their ballot is returned, respectively, so those records should
already be on FVRS.) You need not select either of the check boxes on
this dialog to send the voting history file to FVRS.
- Send Reconciled Voter History to FVRS—If
you believe your voting history reconciliation for the election is complete,
select this option before clicking OK.
This will add a text file of voting history data to the upload. The file
will be posted to the State's website as your county's voting history
record for the election. You can only use this option once per election.
After it has been used, it will be unavailable. If you later realize you
need to update the website file, you must contact the State to reverse
the final filing before you can send the revised file.
- Reason Code '18-Address Update Required'
for those voting—Select this option to have the voting history
update change the voter registration status of 18(A) voters who voted
in this election to 1(A), select this option.
If the Update Voting History program has been
run at least once, the Full or Incremental
History Update on FVRS dialog will include options for how this
update to the voting history file should be handled on FVRS. Note that
the file we are describing here is the update to the FVRS database, not
the text file on the State's website.
- Incremental FVRS Update—Select this option to send only
the changes made since the last time you sent the voting history file
to FVRS. The information in the incremental update will be added to the
information you sent previously.
- Delete FVRS History and Resend—Select this option to send a file
containing all voting history data collected so far along with instructions
to delete data previously sent. If you ever suspect the voting history
data on FVRSis incorrect, you should select this option.
The file
will be sent to FVRS in the next transmission by the FVRS Upload program.
As soon as the update run is finished, you can respond to campaign requests
for list files and labels by running FlexRep reports. See Create a List of Those Voting in an Election for more information.
When you are certain that all voting activity has been recorded and
you have made the final run of the Update Voting History program, you
can then print and archive the election reports and change the election's
status to Closed. See Reports
to Archive After an Election for more information.
Voting History Transactions
- VH01—Sends voting history to
FVRS, both full and incremental updates for the election.
- VH02—Deletes existing voting
history on FVRS for the election.
- VH03—Sends text file of voting
history to FVRS for posting to the State's website as your county's voting history
record for the election.
