September 9, 2016

Straight Ticket Voting Remains on the November Ballot This morning our office was notified that the US Supreme Court has denied the State’s request in the straight-ticket voting case, meaning the straight-ticket voting option will appear on Michigan’s November 8, 2016 general election ballot.  Also note that the appropriate Ballot Production Standards and Ballot Marking Instructions are posted on the BOE website at www.michigan.gov/elections.

November General Election Ballots Important Points to Remember: Ballot orders must be made to accommodate 100% of registered voters. (R168.774(6)a) The call of the November general election and official candidate list have been released to counties. There are NO statewide ballot proposals on the November ballot.  The November 8, 2016 General Election Candidate List on the BOE website is official. The voting equipment release date for the August 2, 2016 primary is September 24, 2016. Please review the Release of Voting Equipment memo sent to County Clerks for further details. Any counties with jurisdictions that may be facing a longer ballot that may require two pages are encouraged to contact Carol Pierce (contact information below) prior to developing ballot proofs. Carol has many possible space-saving tips that may assist in keeping ballots to one page. When ready please forward a copy of the ballot prepared for the November General election in PDF format to the Bureau prior to production. Bureau staff will review all ballots to ensure that they conform to the current ballot production standards. Counties:  Submit all proofs by email to the attention of Carol Pierce at piercec1@michigan.gov. Please include "Ballot Proofs" and the name of your county in the subject line of your email submission. If corrections are needed or any changes are made to the ballots following submission and/or approval, the PDFs must be re-submitted.

EAC Survey & MOVE Compliance Reporting Reminders

The EAC Survey & Ballot Tracker

As a reminder, there are many reporting requirements specifically on absentee voters for the upcoming November General election. The US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Survey is a federal data collection biennial requirement for election officials. Voter registration data should be collected on a regular basis as well.  Be sure to review the EAC Survey Reporting Requirements Guide now to ensure tracking of all required reporting elements.  BOE will collect the data from election officials for the survey shortly after the November Presidential election.

MCL 168.764c, requires all jurisdictions to use the ballot tracker program to track absentee ballot activity for all elections and all voters. Both the Qualified Voter File (QVF) and the Elections Management Portal (EMP) provide a ballot tracker module for every jurisdiction throughout the State. 

Careful use of the ballot tracker to record military/overseas voter activity is encouraged. Ensuring the UOCAVA Status and Delivery Method of the ballot are selected properly for a military/overseas voter will aid in data collection for the EAC Survey.

The following is a list of information required to be tracked for the November General election. If properly utilized, QVF/EMP will automatically track much of the reporting necessary to complete the EAC survey. 

Items QVF/EMP tracks automatically upon entry: 

• number of absentee ballots distributed to all voters 
• number of absentee ballots distributed to military, overseas civilian and domestic civilian voters 
• number of absentee ballots distributed to military and overseas voters by regular mail, email or fax 
• number of absentee ballots distributed to military and overseas voters requested via the FPCA
• number of absentee ballots returned by all voters in time to be counted 
• number of absentee ballots returned by military and overseas voters 
• number of Federal Write-in Absentee Ballots (FWAB’s) returned by military and overseas voters in time to be counted 

Items QVF can now track if users enter it into the system (see image below): 

• number of returned absentee ballots and FWAB’s which were rejected and not counted, including those returned late  
• number of returned absentee ballots and FWAB’s which were rejected and not counted by military and overseas voters 
• the reason for each rejection

In addition, use of the tracker allows voters to view the progress of their ballot throughout the process via the Michigan Voter Information Center.

If you have QVF or QVF Lite, please review Chapter 6 - the AV Module of the QVF Reference Manual for full instructions on how to use the system to process absentee ballots.

If you do not have QVF or QVF Lite, the EMP allows you to track absentee ballot activity for the voters in your jurisdiction. Please review the Elections Management Portal (EMP) for non-QVF Users Manual for full instructions on how to process absentee information into the system.

MOVE Compliance Report

In addition to the EAC Survey, the MOVE Compliance Report will be released on Saturday, September 24th for the November General Election. The upcoming delivery requirement for sending ballots to Military or Overseas Civilian voters is September 24th and the MOVE compliance report is required to be completed by September 27th in the eLearning Center. The State of Michigan must make this information available to the United States Department of Justice right after the September 24th deadline.

You must complete the online MOVE Reporting Form even if you had zero ballot requests from Military or Overseas Civilians for every election your voters are eligible to vote. You will continue to see additional reminders as we approach the September 24th deadline.

IN THIS ISSUE

• Straight Ticket Voting Remains on the November Ballot
• November General Election Ballots
• EAC Survey & Move Compliance Reporting Reminders
• eLearning Assignment Due Thursday
• Recount Lessons Learned

Reminder eLearning Assignment Due Thursday! The Military and Overseas Voters - Voter Registration & Absent Voter Procedures course which covers the special voter registration and absent voter procedure for military and overseas voters. is required to be completed by Thursday, September 15, 2016. The course has been assigned to those required to complete the course and can be found in your eLearning Center transcript or in the featured content box. PLEASE NOTE:  This course (and all courses) have audio.  We recommend the use of headphones as speaker volumes vary.

Recount Lessons Learned BOE, under the authority of the State Board of Canvassers just completed recounts across the State.  The recountability of precincts has vastly improved since the institution of Receiving Boards.  But a few mistakes were still found and should be highlighted as we move into the Presidential Election Cycle.   Lessons Learned: Approved ballot containers are beginning to show wear, specifically the blue collapsible containers.  Zippers are pulling apart and corners are being rubbed, creating sizable holes.  Even if your container was approved for use two years ago, containers need to be visually inspected for every election to ensure the container is still whole. Chamber seals can appear engaged even if they have not sealed the container. Make sure the receiving board is carefully attempting to open the lock to ensure the container is in fact sealed. Election inspectors must be instructed to remove ballots from all tabulator bins. And finally, canvass ballot bags (see image above) should NOT be used on Election Day.  These bags are for final retention of federal ballots and play no role on Election Day.  The use of these bags to save a step later results in the most common mistakes seen in recounts.  Often resulting in unrecountable precincts.

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