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March 18, 2016
Elimination
of Straight-Ticket Voting - Revised Ballot Marking Instructions
As
you know, the enactment of Public Act 268 of 2015 eliminated the
straight-ticket voting option in Michigan. This change affects November
general election ballots. The Bureau of Elections (BOE) is in the process
of revising the various reference materials that include information on
straight-ticket voting. This will include an update to the Ballot
Production Standards document and Test Deck manual.
A
major component of the legislative changes involved a revision to the required
Ballot Marking Instructions for use in general elections. Note that our
online Ballot Marking Instructions document has been revised and re-posted to
the BOE website and eLearning Center, and can be accessed here: Mandated Ballot
Instructions * Rev. March 2016 *
Only
the instructions for general elections are affected (see page 2 of this
document). All general election ballot marking instructions used in the
polls on Election Day and provided with absentee ballots must be updated for
use in the November 8, 2016 general election. BOE is providing this
information to commercial printers as well, and will continue to provide
updates to you as the revisions to the remaining materials are completed and
released.
March 8 Presidential Primary - Timeframes for Voting Equipment Release
The County Canvass period for
the March 8, 2016 Presidential Primary will conclude on March 22. The
Board of State Canvassers will meet to certify the election results next
Thursday, March 24. After the conclusion of that meeting, the Bureau of
Elections (BOE) will forward County Clerks further details related to the
timeframes for the release of security for the March 8 election equipment and
materials.
BOE has received several
questions from counties and local jurisdictions who are administering elections
on May 3. Note that while the standard timeframe for the release of
materials and equipment is 30 days following State certification (i.e., April
25), Michigan Election Law (MCL 168.799a(4)) also allows for an "early release
option" at 7 days post-certification (i.e., March 31):
“Unless
a petition for recount has been filed and the recount has not been completed,
ballots, ballot labels, programs, test results, and other sealed materials may
be released from their original seal after 7 days following the final
determination of the board of canvassers with respect to the election at which
the ballots were voted. However, the released materials shall be secured
and preserved for the time period required by this act and the rules promulgated
by the secretary of state.”
A jurisdiction that wishes to take
advantage of the above retention procedures to free electronic voting equipment
for the upcoming May 3 election may break the seals on the materials any time
after March 31, 2016 and then seal the materials in an approved ballot
container through April 25, 2016. Programs contained on memory devices
may be downloaded to disk during the transfer of the materials to free the
memory devices for the upcoming election.
Of course, given that the MOVE/AV deadline for the May 3 election is this weekend, the preferred option would be
to utilize spare memory devices if they are available. If spare memory
devices are not available, local jurisdictions are encouraged to utilize the
7-day early release option.
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