Return Mail Ballots Processed by Relia-Vote

Note:  This topic is for counties with the BlueCrest (formerly Pitney Bowes) Relia-Vote interface to Voter Focus.

This topic explains how to process returned mail ballots after the envelopes containing the ballots have been scanned through the BlueCrest Relia-Vote system.

Mail ballots that were emailed or faxed to overseas voters, and which were returned by email, fax, or regular mail, cannot be returned through the Relia-Vote system. These ballots must be return processed using the Voter Focus method. For instructions on returning emailed/faxed ballots, see How to Record the Return of Mail Ballots.

For ballots returned as undeliverable by the postal service, you have the option of capturing the full envelope image and indexing it to the voter's record as a new entry on the Comms tab in the voter's record. This process also marks the ballot as returned (that is, Referred for the reason Returned Undeliverable), so there is no need to follow the return process described here. For more information, see How to Index Images of Undeliverable Mail-Ballot Envelopes. If your county does not use the capture/index option, undeliverable ballots should be returned as described in How to Process an Undeliverable Vote-By-Mail Ballot.

  1. Ensure that the election you want is in focus.
  2. Go to Vote By Mail >Retrieve Return Images. On the Select Election dialog, select the election you want to work on. You will see the message Retrieving Images..., indicating that Voter Focus is generating a queue of the ballots returned and processed by Relia-Vote. This process also appends the path to the image captured by Relia-Vote to the ballot record in Voter Focus.

Generation of the queue usually takes just a few seconds. Voter Focus displays a message when it is ready for you to continue.

  1. Go to Vote By Mail > Return Ballots from Relia-Vote.
  2. On the Return Ballots Batch Header dialog, enter a batch number for the group of ballots you are processing now. Modify the return date, if necessary. Click Continue.
  3. On the Return Ballots dialog, click Get Next Record to pull up the first scanned image.
    4. Note:  For mail ballot elections, the image from the mail ballot envelope is displayed in a separate window, which can be moved around the screen separately from the Return Ballots dialog.
  4. Compare the image of the signature on the envelope with the signature clip in the voter’s record.
  5. To accept the ballot, click Accept Return. The next image will appear. Repeat the comparison/disposition process for the next ballot.

To refer a ballot to the Canvassing Board, select a reason in Referral Reason and click Refer Return. Voter Focus will then print a Canvassing Referral Sheet to your default printer and display the next record.

If the Relia-Vote image does not show the signature clearly or completely enough to make a good comparison, click Skip Envelope. This tells the Relia-Vote system to sort this returned ballot with other envelopes that were skipped during Voter Focus return processing. Ballot envelopes that are skipped will need to be processed using the Voter Focus Return Ballots feature (that is, Vote By Mail > Return Ballots). See How to Handle Skipped Envelopes, Undeliverable Ballots, and Ballots Rejected by Relia-Vote for more information.

While you are accessing a Relia-Vote image, the image file is locked to prevent access by other users. The image file is unlocked when you accept or refer the return. Should the Return Ballots program be stopped abnormally (due to a system failure, for instance), any images currently being accessed by users will be locked. After the program is restarted, the image files will remain locked for a period of time. This time period is typically 24 hours, but it can be modified by VR Systems upon request by your Voter Focus administrator.