How to Count Your Ballots Christina Worrell Adkins Election Law Seminar December 2015

Hand Counted Paper Ballots As used by the SOS elections division, this term refers to a ballot that is made of paper and meant to be hand counted. does NOT refer to an ballot that are counted with a scanner Counting Election Day: – conducted by polling place election officials Early Voting by Personal Appearance: – conducted by the Early Voting Ballot Board

Paper Ballots that are counted by an optical or digital scanner A ballot designed to be used in a voting system that uses an optical scanner to read the marked ballots, which are made of paper and marked by using an indelible marker to fill in an oval or arrow next to the candidates’ names or “for” or “against” a ballot measure Counting Election Day: – after the polls close - either with a precinct ballot counter OR a central accumulator at a Central Counting Station. Early Voting by Personal Appearance: – at Central Counting Station.

Direct Recording Electronic -DRE A voting machine that is designed to allow a direct vote on the machine by the manual touch of a screen, monitor, wheel, or other device and that records the individual votes and vote totals electronically. Counting Election Day: – after the polls close on election day at a Central Accumulation Station. Early Voting by Personal Appearance: – at a Central Accumulation Station either: (1) After the end of EV by personal appearance, or (2) After the polls open on election day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Must the voter write in a declared write-in candidates name exactly as the name appears on the list of declared write-in candidates in order for the vote to be counted?

A.Yes B.No C. What are write-in candidates? D. My favorite color is purple

A.Yes B.No - a vote for an office or proposition must be counted if the voter’s intent is clearly ascertainable. C. What are write-in candidates? D. My favorite color is purple

A voter marked all the candidates for every race. Do we pick which candidates she wanted to vote for?

A.Yes B.No C.Yes, but only pick the party with the least number votes at the time of counting this ballot D. Yes, use voter history to determine their party affiliation

A.Yes B.No – it is considered an overvote C.Yes, but only pick the party with the least number votes at the time of counting this ballot D. Yes, use voter history to determine their party affiliation

As the presiding judge was packing up the polling place, he found two ballots folded together next to the ballot box. Can he put these in the ballot box to be counted?

A.Yes B.No C.Yes, but only if the back of the ballot is signed by the presiding judge D. The ballots have to reviewed by the EVBB before they can be put in the ballot box for counting.

A.Yes B.No C.Yes, but only if the back of the ballot is signed by the presiding judge D. The ballots have to reviewed by the EVBB before they can be put in the ballot box for counting.

ballot not provided to the voter at the polling place; two or more ballots folded together in a manner indicating that they were folded together when deposited; a ballot that has not been deposited in the ballot box Section

Counting write-in votes is really hard, can we program our central tabulating equipment or DREs to recognize common misspellings?

A.Absolutely! How else would we count write-in votes? B.No C.Yes, only if you are using the elections issued Common Misspellings List D.No, you can only vote a write-in candidate on paper ballots

A.Absolutely! How else would we count write-in votes? B.No C.Yes, only if you are using the elections issued Common Misspellings List D.No, you can only vote a write-in candidate on paper ballots

State law provides that if a ballot is marked irregularly, the presiding judge must determine the voter’s intent; it would be a violation of state law to pre-determine how irregular marks should be counted without the determination by the presiding judge. Tex. Att’y General Opinion No. JM-998 (1988); §