Last Updated: 09/19/2024

Mail-Ballot Adjustments

To access: Voter Maintenance > {voter} > Vote-By-Mail tab > {election} > Mail-Ballot Adjustments

This dialog lets you make various changes an existing mail ballot or early voting request for an election, including:

Recording when a ballot has been issued and how it was issued.
Canceling a request for a mail ballot.
Changing the request from Military to Civilian. This is important because military ballots (Military Overseas and Military Domestic) are mailed out earlier than their civilian counterparts.
Recording the release of replacement ballots.
Reversing the release or return of ballots.
Reversing votes cast during early voting and in-office absentee voting.
Preventing the return of a mail ballot.
Changing the delivery method from mail to email or fax.

Adjustments to Vote-By-Mail and early voting requests are automatically reflected in the various Vote-By-Mail and early voting reports. For example, changing the Mil/Civ setting affects where the request is listed in the Absentee Totals for an Election report, which lists military and civilian mail ballot voters separately. Changing a voter's delivery from mail to email or fax removes the voter from the Deliver Ballots run and adds them to the Unsent Email/Fax Absentee Ballots report.

See Make Adjustments to Existing Mail-Ballot Requests for specific instruction on adjusting requests under various scenarios.

Certain buttons on the dialog may be disabled based on ballot status or user permission. For example, the Reverse Return of Ballot button is disabled if the voter has not returned an issued ballot or cast an early vote.

With the exception of changes to the Mil/Civ field, adjustments to a request are immediately recorded in the Voter Focus database and can be seen on the Absentee Activity Dump report as soon as they are made. For instance, if you reverse delivery of a ballot and click Audit Report, you can see the reversal, even though you haven't yet saved your changes.

Fields and Controls on this Dialog

Delivery Method	Indicates how the ballot will be delivered. The value defaults to the method requested by the voter when they made the Vote-By-Mail Request, but you can change it to another method if the voter changes their mind. The options here are: Mail—For mail delivery, if the voter provided a Vote-By-Mail address, you will need to enter the address on the Vote-By-Mail Addresses dialog. Email—For email delivery, you must enter the voter's email address in the E-Mail field on the voter's Vote-By-Mail tab. Fax—For fax delivery, you must enter the voter's fax number on the Vote-By-Mail Addresses dialog. Selecting Email or Fax automatically sets an overseas condition for the voter for this election.
Ballot Return Blocked	Indicates that the voter's mail ballot has been blocked from being return processed.
Block/Unblock Return	Click Block Return to prevent return processing of a voter's mail ballot because they voted at the polls, even though they have mailed the ballot back to the elections office. See Block the Return of a Voter's Mail Ballot for more information. Click Unblock Return to reverse the block.
Comments	Use this field to indicate why the change was made, such as why a second ballot was issued or why a voter's return was blocked.
O'seas	This field appears only if the ballot has been returned and the voter is an overseas voter. The possible values are M—Mail, E—Email, and F—Fax. This information is collected for reporting to the U. S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC).
Change Mil/Civ	Toggles the Military/Civilian setting assigned to this request.
Cancel Request	Cancels the Vote-By-Mail Request. The Request Status on the Vote-By-Mail tab displays Request Canceled. Any ballots already issued to the voter remain assigned to this Vote-By-Mail Request. Note: If a mail ballot is returned by the postal service as undeliverable to the voter, do not cancel the request. See How to Process an Undeliverable Mail Ballot for instructions.
Audit Report	View the Absentee Audit Report for this Vote-By-Mail Request. Information in the Absentee Audit Report cannot be changed or deleted.
Release Ballot 2nd/3rd Ballot	Records the issuance of a second or third replacement ballot. This button displays the Release Ballot dialog where you record issuance of the ballot.
Reverse Ballot Delivery	Reverses the issuance of a ballot to the voter. You should perform a reverse ballot delivery operation only when a ballot has not yet been mailed or otherwise delivered to the voter. If your county uses ballot numbers, you are asked if you want to delete the ballot number. Click Yes if you want to delete the ballot number from the database so it can be reused for another voter; this removes the ballot number from the list of used numbers. Clicking No cancels the reverse ballot delivery operation. Note: You must be granted the MailBallotReversal permission to use this option.
Reverse Return of Ballot	The ballot is no longer marked as voted. Note: You must be granted the MailBallotReversal permission to use this option.
Reverse Early/In-office Vote	The vote cast during early voting or in-office absentee voting is reversed. Note: You must be granted the MailBallotReversal permission to use this option.
Reverse Request for 2nd/3rd Ballot	The request for a replacement ballot that has not yet been delivered to the voter is reversed in the Voter Focus system. Note: You must be granted the MailBallotReversal permission to use this option.
Previous Request	Displays the previous election for which this voter has a Vote-By-Mail Request.
Next Request	Displays the next election for which this voter has a Vote-By-Mail Request.
Close	Closes the dialog and returns you to the Vote-By-Mail tab in the voter's record. All changes made on the Mail Ballot dialog are saved to the database.
Maintain Requester Information	Opens the Maintain Requester Information dialog. Use this if a third party requested or picked up a ballot for the voter.
Canvassing Board Reinstatement	Reinstates a mail ballot previously referred by the elections office but reinstated by the Canvassing Board. Reinstated ballots are counted as valid mail ballot returns. Any notices (such as an Absentee Referral Letter or a Signature Affidavit Notice) that were scheduled when the ballot was referred are unscheduled automatically by a reinstatement. See Reinstate a Mail Ballot for more information.