Catching Up and Preparing for the 2018 Election Cycle

Many jurisdictions across the state have not had elections since November of 2016.  We've put together a list of things you might want to do to make sure you are organized and prepared for 2018.

1. Verify your information - Make sure your contact information is correct in both QVF and in your Elections eLearning Center profile.  Check the Jurisdiction Election Email field in your eLearning account, which displays on the MVIC website for voters.  Submit any changes with the Jurisdiction Election Email Form, under Browse by Subject, Online Forms.  See this help document: eLearning Profile

2. Basic voter registration maintenance - make sure voter ID cards are sent and clean up returned voter ID cards and status flags

3. Prepare for absentee voting - prep permanent absent voter lists and link your website to our online AV Application

4. Remind voters about the wealth of information they can find at the Michigan Voter Information Center (mi.gov/vote) and that they can update their voter registration address at www.ExpressSOS.com

5. Organize your troops... er, election inspectors - have them update their application (we updated our form last year), prepare them with schedules for certification training, and start recruiting more as necessary

6. Dust off your ePollbooks - Review the Laptop and Maintenance Instructions and most of all PRACTICE!

7.  Brush up on the things you may have missed - You can view all past issues of the News Updates in the Michigan Elections eLearning Center

8. Clean up - Review the Retention Schedule for things that can be destroyed like cancelled master cards (5 years) and voted ballots (22 months post canvass for federal elections, 30 days post canvass for local/state)

Last Day to Move Polling Locations - June 8th

The final date cities and townships can establish, move, or abolish a polling place for the August Primary election is Friday, June 8th. 

As a reminder, the moving of a polling place requires:

• Township Board or City Council/Commission approval
• Notice to Voters
• Notice of the Change Posted at the Old Polling Location

For full details on what can be used as a polling place and accessibility requirements, refer to Chapter 14 of the Election Officials' Manual or review the Voting Precincts and Polling Locations online course. 

QVF Refresh Release for May 25, 2018

The following changes were applied to the software:

·         Election Geography enabled for the August 7, 2018 election date.

·         Precincts and Polling locations is now available for users to edit and assign polling locations.

·         Mass AV applications with ballot style output now produce only a single application.

·         AV Application and Ballot Address buttons in AV Details now show an “R” (residential), “M” (mailing), and “A” for alternate (one off address).

·         AV Delivery Report edits were made to add totals and change the formatting of the report to be able to offer more sorting capabilities.

·         AV Scan adjustments to accurately reflect the mailing address in the screen.

·         Address Label from Voter Search screen now allows for the extra label to be printed.

·         Signed Petition Report now accurately reflects deleted voters.

We are working on a second release for absentee voter features in the software and hope to deploy that sometime early next week and will communicate this information no later than next week’s News Update.

QVF Refresh Ballot Administration Deadline – Counties Only

Please remember that the deadline for entering and completing all office/candidates and proposal/proposal language is today, May 25th.  All information should be entered and marked complete today.  If you have further questions regarding this matter, please contact Sarah McMillan at mcmillans@michigan.gov 

Post-Election Audit Online Course

The online course on Conducting a Post-Election Audit has been updated and is now available.

The course is just under 15 minutes and covers the new voted ballot hand count process.  In addition, the Post-Election Audit Manual and Checklist have been updated.

See all audit related items under Browse by Subject, Audits.

BOE Closed Memorial Day

In observance of Memorial Day, the Bureau of Elections will be closed on Monday, May 28th. Enjoy your holiday weekend.

BOE Question of the Week:

With QVF tracking more information via Refresh, what items do we still need to manually track for the EAC Survey?

Answer:  QVF Refresh now tracks virtually everything that had to be tracked manually.  Of course, you must enter the information into the new features and modules in order for QVF to track these items.

The items that had to be tracked separately and can now be entered into QVF Refresh are as follows:

• Duplicate registrations (except SOS Branch Office forms)
• Confirmation cards returned
• Result of returned confirmation card (cancellation, address change, undeliverable, etc.)
• Ages of election inspectors

Items that must still be manually tracked:

• Invalid or rejected applications if unable to enter into QVF

Have a question you'd  like to see
in the Question of the Week?  Send it to elections@michigan.gov.