ballot design and printing election center kansas city1

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Ballot Design and Printing

Election Center Workshop

April 19, 2007



Top Ten Things to Worry About

� Errors are discovered on the ballots

after they have been delivered by theprinter± candidate name, race,

misspelling, words missing from

question, etc.




� One of the candidate¶s name is too

long and you have discovered thatit drops off the paper ballot and/or

voting machine screen,




� You discover that there have been moreballot printing errors ± voters have

called and are complaining that the

reverse side of some of the ballots is

blank!!




� Some of the voter instructions aremisprinted and/or missing on the

ballot.




� The printer is running behind and

has called to notify you that your

delivery schedule is now

delayed. Ballots will begin to be

delivered on the day before early

voting begins.




� Thousands more voters are requesting

provisional ballots on Election Day.Poll workers are calling to report that

they are running out of certain precinct

ballots.




� When you begin to scan the voted

absentee ballots, you discover thatsome of the ballot stock is a different

quality paper stock and some of the

ballots won¶t scan.




� The candidate names have beenprinted too close to timing marks and

when the ballots are scanned the votes

are being recorded as overvotes.




� The corrections that staff made to thepaper ballot record are not showing up

as corrected on the same voting

machine ballot.




� Corrections made to the candidate

name on one race in the ballot fileaccidentally changed the font size on

that one race on the voting machine

ballot.



Preventive Measures

� Proofing, Proofing, Proofing, Proofing ± Take steps to validate that precincts (and splits)

are properly assigned to correct districts

± Proof every ballot ± on paper and on the votingmachine

± Re-proof the ballots ± on paper and on thevoting machine after corrections are made

± Proofing should be done by staff members thatdid not enter the information

± Dual sign-off on all proofing documentation

± Back up and lock down the ballot file when final

proofs are approved.



Preventive Measures

� Review printing company contracts

± Establish chain of custody for finalapproved ballot proofs

± Ensure quality control procedures are inplace

± Stipulate the quality of ballot stock and inkdensity within the print contract

± Communicate printing deadlines in writing

± Tour the printing facility and consider having staff on-site



Preventive Measures

� Establish internal policies/proceduresfor acceptance of printed ballots

� Verify that the correct quantity of ballots has been received

� Conduct logic and accuracy tests onprinted ballots BEFORE issuing any

ballots to voters� Conduct logic and accuracy tests on all

voting machine ballot memory cards



Preventive Measures

� Develop a ³Plan B´

± Have blank ballot stock on hand and

consider using a ³ballot on demand´

printer for emergencies

± Photocopy blank ballots using your copy

of the ballot proof until more ballots can

be printed ± Be prepared to hand feed the ballots

through the central scanners, if necessary



The Overall Goal is to

NEVER Have Your Stomach

Feel Like This!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Questions and Comments???

Connie Schmidt, CERA

[email protected]

913-206-7395

ballot design and printing election center kansas city1

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