Washington State Elections – Mail-In Voting Interviews

Contents

General Information 3

Topic 1: Ballot Creation 3

Topic 2: Ballot Printing, Insertion, Delivery 3

Voter Pamphlet 3

Mail/Email - UOCAVA 4

Timing 4

Data Extract 4

Printing 4

Inserting 4

Mailing 5

Emailing 5

Mail – Everyone Else (Non-UOCAVA) 5

Timing 5

Data Extract 5

Printing 6

Inserting 6

Mailing 6

EMS System Update 6

Change Files 6

Replacement Ballots 6

ACP Voters (Protected Voters) 7

Voters With IDs Not Yet Verified 7

Washington Special Absentee Ballot Application 7

Topic 3: Ballot Return 7

Mail Ballots Received (regular) 7

Collecting Mail Ballots 7

Sorting/Initial Steps 8

Signature Verification 8

Challenges/Signature Issues 8

Opening 9

Duplication/Ballot Resolution/Scanning 10

Email, Fax, Online Received 11

Provisional Ballots Received 12

Federal Write-In Ballot Received 12

ACP Voter Ballots Received (Protected Voters) 12

Topic 4: Online Ballot Status/Tracking 13

Topic 5: Canvassing Board 13

Topic 6: Drop Boxes 13

Topic 7: Vote Centers and Accessible Voting Unit Machine (AVU) 14

Topic 8: Reports 14

Daily Use 14

EAC 15

State 15

Match Backs 15

Topic 9: Language Complexities 15

General Information

Topic: King County, Mail-in Voting

Date/Time: April 21, 2015, 8:30am – 12:00pm resumed 1:30pm-4:00pm

Attendees:

·  Kristin Arabally and Kelly Sprague from Quest

·  Stephanie Goebel and Stuart Holmes from OSOS

·  Dale Hartman, IT Manager

·  Sonja Rowland, Project Manager

·  Beth Ratzlaff, Program Supervisor for Voter Services: Outbound

·  Kim Streeter, Lead in Voter Services: Outbound

·  Jerelyn Hampton, Lead in Ballot Formatting

·  Leeland Buchanan, Lead in Alternate Ballot Format

·  Joe Mcleeve, Lead for Signature Verification

Topic 1: Ballot Creation

  1. This wasn’t discussed in our session; however, as per notes from the Election Management meeting, the DFM system creates ballot styles and are then matched to voters. It has been noted the GEMS system is where the ballots are actually built. Is this system fairly easy to use and flexible in terms of ballot layout/design?
  2. It was also noted in the Election Management meeting that the GEMS ballot style numbering is not the same as the numbering that was done in the DFM system.

Topic 2: Ballot Printing, Insertion, Delivery

Voter Pamphlet

  1. King County does send County Voter Pamphlets.
  2. Each pamphlet is written in 4 3 languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese).
  3. It is tricky to ensure that the pamphlet details (candidate statements) are translated in time to get them in the mail by the deadline dates. They do have some staff in house who review the translators done by outside vendors.
  4. Each voter will receive whatever pamphlet matches his/her language preference as per the voter registration record.
  5. For special elections that aren’t full county elections, the pamphlets are usually mailed with the ballots.
  6. For primary and general elections:
  7. The pamphlets vary by region of the county. Usually there are 4 additionseditions: Seattle, Eastern, South West, and North. To determine what zip codes get what pamphlets is primarily automated but does require some manual intervention with the help of an access database.
  8. Pamphlets are sent before the ballots to all households. The county households that don’t contain a registered voter will receive an English pamphlet.

Mail/Email - UOCAVA

Timing

  1. These tasks are done in enough time to have the mailing ready for the 45 days in advance requirement (for a primary or general) and the 30 days in advance requirement (for a primaryspecial election).

Data Extract

  1. A UOCAVA file is pulled from the DIMS/DFM system for delivery to the vendor one week ahead of the UOCAVA Mail date.
  2. The date marked in DIMS as the mailed date is the date the file is created, as opposed to the date the mail is actually sent out.

Note: This will change with a move to DFM.

  1. The voters that are pulled are all Active UOCAVA voters who are eligible for the election.
  2. An updated UOCAVA is pulled from the DIMS/DFM system for delivery to the vendor one day ahead of the UOCAVA Mail Date.
  3. The voters that are pulled are all new Active UOCAVA voters who are eligible for the election and voters that have had a change to their record since the first UOCAVA data pull. The changes found are based on a ‘suspend and reissue’ flag being since the date that the first pull was done. The changes that will set the flag are precinct/address change or name change.
  4. The data extract files are sorted by postal carrier route.
  5. This data includes voters who will be age 18 by Election Day.

Printing

  1. K&H is the printing vendor for ballots and envelopes.
  2. All pieces of the ballot contain a 2D barcode of the ballot type.
  3. The AV ID (ballot ID is unique per ballot issued) is in a barcode on the envelope and is also in plain text in two places on the envelope.
  4. The outer envelope contains a code that specifies the type of the election (G for general, P for Primary or A for specialApril special and F for February special)

Inserting

  1. K&H does the ballot assembly and insertion.

Mailing

  1. K&H does the mailing.

Emailing

  1. Emails are sent by the Gov Delivery vendor to UOCAVA voters containing links to the Everyone Counts Online Ballot Marking Pprogram. The King County staff sends creates the text of the email that needs to be sent is send and uploads as well as a list of the voter emails that need towill receive the email.
  2. The Gov Delivery vendor has many helpful reports that they use.
  3. Everyone Count’s Online Ballot Marking Program is available for UOCAVA voters right away, but it is not “open” for the remainder of voters until the week before Election Day. Technically, the non-UOCAVA voters can get into the website and access their ballot. However, the election staff won’t start directing users to this website until the week before the election.
  4. Emails that are undeliverable are researched to see if they have another email address on file someplace for them. If yes, they try to resend to the other email addresses. If no, they change the request to be a Mail request inside of the DIMS system and then a ballot is mailed. (Of the 6000 emails they sent in the last election, 120 were undeliverable).

Note: It was noted that the Everyone Counts vendor’s website has been easier for non-technical users than the previously used Scytl vendor.

Mail – Everyone Else (Non-UOCAVA)

Timing

  1. These tasks are done in time to have the mailing ready 18 days before Election Day.

Note: King County generally sends the mail ballots 2 days ahead of the required 18 day state requirement.

Data Extract

  1. A all non-UOCAVA file is pulled from the DIMS/DFM system for delivery to the vendor 1 2 1/2-3 weeks ahead of the non-UOCAVA Mail Date
  2. The date marked in DIMS as the mailed date is the date the file is created, as opposed to the date the mail is actually sent out. This will change with a move to DFM.
  3. The voters that are pulled are all Active Non-UOCAVA voters who are eligible for the election.
  4. An updated non-UOCAVA is pulled from the DIMS/DFM system for delivery to the vendor one dayone week ahead of the non-UOCAVA Mail date.
  5. The voters that are pulled are all Active Non-UOCAVA voters who are eligible for the election and that have had a change to their record since the first non-UOCAVA data pull. The changes found are based on a ‘suspend and reissue’ flag being since the date that the first pull was done. The changes that will set the flag are precinct/address change or name change.
  6. The data extract files are sorted at K&H by postal carrier route.
  7. This data includes voters who will be age 18 by Election Day.
  8. DIMS does not have a seasonal address feature, but DFM will have this functionality.

Printing

  1. K&H is the printing vendor for ballots and envelopes.
  2. All pieces of the ballot contain a 2D barcode of the ballot type.
  3. The AV ID (ballot ID is unique per ballot issued) is in a barcode on the envelope and id also in plain text in two places on the envelope.
  4. The outer envelope contains a code that specifies the type of the election (G for general, P for Primary or A for special)

Inserting

  1. K&H does the ballot assembly and insertion.

Mailing

  1. K&H does the mailing.
  2. K&H puts first class postage on any ballot being sent out-of-state. This is because the WA state post office treats ballot mail as First Class and not the Not-For-Profit rate that it actually is. However, out of the state of WA, the ballots are treated as true Not-For-Profit mail and are delivered too slowly.

EMS System Update

  1. With the DIMS system, the ballots show as being mailed on the day the extract is taken. With the move to DFM, it will be possible to capture the actual mail date. Will that require an update to DFM after the mail date occurs? No. We can set this in the options when we run the files.
  2. K&H sends exit scans with each ballot file that they receive. This exit scan file is uploaded to the AV Uploader application for reconciliation. It ensures that the ballots (AV IDs) they K&H reports as having been sent are the same ones that the AV Uploader was expecting to be sent.

Change Files

  1. Update files are sent to K&H every day from the time that the main files is are sent until the Friday before Election Day. These files contain any new voter or voters that have had updates to their voter name and or address/precinct.

Replacement Ballots

  1. When a replacement ballot is issued within DFM, the original ballot is marked as suspended. The replacement ballot has a new AV ID (ballot ID).
  2. If a suspended ballot is returned, it sits to the side to make sure the replacement ballot is not returned also. If the replacement ballot is not returned, the suspended ballot is changed to be a status that can be accepted. If the replacement ballot is returned, it counts and the suspended ballot stays suspended and does not count.
  3. King County utilizes a phone bank application that is not a part of the DIMS/DFM system, but does provide live updates information from to it. Updates made in the application have to be approved by full time staff before the changes are applied to the live system. If a voter calls to say that he and his family have moved, there is a feature of the phone bank application that allows the person taking the call to request replacement ballots for all members of the household.

ACP Voters (Protected Voters)

  1. Each protected voter is assigned a participant number by the Secretary of State’s office.
  2. A list of those participant numbers and the associated precincts/portions are kept by the Voter Services group.
  3. IT identifies which precincts/portions are in the election and passes that information to the Voter Services group.
  4. The Voter Services group manually prints/assembles the ballots for each of the participants in the election. The printing is done from the GEMS system.
  5. The ballots are mailed to a State PO Box. The state delivers the mail to the voters.

Voters With IDs Not Yet Verified

  1. Letters are sent to voters before the ballots are mailed which tells them that they are considered provisionally registered and that they need to provide their ID before their ballot can be counted.
  2. Within the DIMS/DFM system, these voters are considered in “soft pending” status.
  3. When a ballot is received for a soft pending voter, they are kicked out of the Pitney Bowes sort. They get a list from the Pitney Bowes sort that shows which voters need Voter Services to be involved.
  4. Voter Services will try to validate their ID using Lexus Nexus or the Washington State Lookup.
  5. The ballot stays on hold until the ID can be validated.

Washington Special Absentee Ballot Application

  1. Any ballot sent earlier than 45 days before an election is considered a special ballot. A special ballot is just a piece of paper listing as many races/candidates as they know of for that voter’s precinct. When sending it, they also ask if they’d still like to receive their regular ballot. If indicated as yes, then the regular mail ballot is sent as well. There are 500 of these types of requests on a large election.

Topic 3: Ballot Return

Mail Ballots Received (regular)

Collecting Mail Ballots

47.  This was not discussed. Do workers go to a PO Box to collect these ballots or are they delivered by the post office directly to the elections offices?

Sorting/Initial Steps

  1. Ballots are put through a scan pass through the Pitney Bowes machine. During this scan pass, the following things occur:
  2. The signatures are captured.
  3. This is the pass that will make a ballot “received” on the King County website.
  4. It is assumed that an export is taken from the Pitney Bowes machine and imported into DIMS in order to proceed with signature validation and in order to get the voter’s ballots indicated as received. What is the frequency of this export?

d.  If a ballot is put through for a voter who already has a ballot marked as received, it is kicked out. What other ballots are kicked out during this scan? Is an import from DIMS put into the Pitney Bowes machine before scanning begins?