Recount Reminders

Michigan election law stipulates that a candidate who seeks nomination or election to the office of U.S. Senate, U.S. Representative in Congress, State Representative or a judicial office (except Probate Judge) who wishes to obtain a recount must file with the Secretary of State. Please keep this requirement in mind if you are contacted by any U.S. Senate, U.S. House, State Senate, State House, or judicial candidates (except Probate Judge), who wish to seek a recount after the November 6 General election.

County and local recounts requested after the November 6 General election may not be conducted until written clearance is received through the Michigan Department of State’s Bureau of Elections.

County election officials: Please remember that the Recount fee schedule and petition have changed, both of which can be found in the Appendix of the Board of County Canvassers Manual. The petition for recount must allege that they possess a good-faith belief that they would have had a reasonable chance of winning the election.

Important Dates:

• County Canvassing Boards convened at 1:00 p.m. on November 7, 2018 to initiate canvass of general election.

• County Canvassing Boards complete canvass of general election no later than November 20, 2018.

• Results for county and local offices are certified as official. Results for state level offices are forwarded to Secretary of State within 24 hours.

• County, local, and Probate Judge candidates must submit recount petitions within six days of the certification of results of the office involved by the Board of County Canvassers.

• The Board of State Canvassers must meet on or before November 26, 2018. Board authorizes staff to act on its behalf if recounts are requested.

• Federal, state, and judicial offices must submit recount petitions within 48 hours of the certification.

Post-Election Audit Precincts Selected

A full list of the precincts selected for the November post-election audits can be found at this link:

Post -Election Audit Precinct Selections November 2018

All counties have jurisdictions selected. A few jurisdictions will be audited by BOE. Please note, audits conducted by BOE appear in one full list at the beginning of the document.

County clerk staff may begin conducting the audits after the State Board of Canvassers meets and certifies the election (this meeting is scheduled for November 26). Audits should be completed by the end of December. If your jurisdiction is listed:

 You will be contacted directly by a representative of your county clerk's office (or BOE for State audits) in the very near future to arrange for the audit.

 You will be asked to provide several items from the November 6th election that will be used in conducting the audit.

 Do not delete your ePollbook (EPB) files or program from the encrypted flash drive or the EPB laptop (if applicable).

• The audits should be completed in 2-3 hours and will focus on the completion of several key election day and pre- and post-election day processes.

Please take some time to review the Post-Election Audit Worksheet,  AVCB Worksheet, and Post-Election Audit Manual prior to your audit. These materials were updated for the elimination of straight ticket voting and include the contests to be hand tallied. The main objectives of this program are to reinforce important election related legal and procedural requirements; and to identify specific topics that may need additional focus and/or clarification via training, documentation, communication or other support that can be provided by the Bureau of Elections.

The audit will also now include a review of voted ballots with a hand tally of select contests. The review of voted ballots will verify the equipment used to count votes worked properly and yielded the correct result.

Counties: the Conducting Post - Election Audits Online Course  was updated in May to review the new additions to the process.

Provisional Ballot/Not in Possession of ID Online Report Form

Reminder, the Provisional Ballot/Not in Possession of ID Online Report Form must be submitted via the eLearning Center by Tuesday, November 13th.

All jurisdictions are required to submit the Provisional Ballot / Not in Possession of ID Online Report Form to report voters appearing in person who are not listed on the ePollbook / Precinct List and completed a Provisional Ballot Form or signed the Affidavit of Voter Not in Possession of Picture ID (usually found on the back of the Application to Vote). Please log into the Elections eLearning Center and complete the Provisional Ballot/Not in Possession of ID Online Form and other related documents.

If you issued a Provisional Ballot, be sure to register the voter whether you were able to count the provisional ballot or not. This will ensure the voter is eligible for all future elections. Please continue to report the outcome of all envelope ballots to your County Clerk and County Board of Canvassers.

NOTE: If your jurisdiction is closed on Monday due to the Veteran's Day holiday, you should accept proof of identity or residency from provisional voters if they bring it to you on Tuesday.

Full instructions on the post-election provisional ballot process can be found in the document Procedure for Handling Provisional Envelope Ballots Returned to Clerk's Office for Review.

County Clerks may see the reports already submitted by viewing the Received Election Reports for Provisional Ballots at any time. Review the Received Reports Directions - How to View, Search, and Sort if you need instructions. The formal .pdf report will be available next week.

AV Ballot Tracking for Ballots Returned Late

Please continue to use the AV Details screen to track ballots returned by voters after the election. First, Receive the ballot with the late receipt date. Then select Ballot Status to open up the window to mark the ballot Rejected, then select the rejection reason of “Ballot Returned after 8 PM by Election Day” from the drop-down menu.

For more information on the use of the AV Details to track the ballots, Legacy users may refer to Chapter 6 of the QVF Legacy Manual. Refresh users may refer to Chapter 6 of the QVF Refresh Manual.

In addition to the reporting in QVF, the Bureau of Elections strongly encourages election officials to report any ballots returned with a postmark of more than 5 days prior to the date of return to https://electionmail.org/.

Electionmail.org is the work of Democracy Works. They work closely with USPS to ensure problems are being resolved and they are keeping track of the data and finding problematic trends. We encourage all local election officials to utilize electionmail.org when you have postal issues. This information is sent to and tracked by BOE as well. USPS is responding!

QVF Refresh Update

QVF Refresh Software Changes for November 9, 2018:

• Custom Voter List Report - Corrected the report to properly sort by full D.O.B. when sort order is birth/last/first/middle

• AV Scan - Able to search for ballot numbers with 5 digits.

• Candidate Listing -  Candidate street address is separated out by street address, city, state, and zip code.

• Quick Match -  Voter Details are provided in registration screen once the “Find Address” button is selected so that users can confirm the jurisdiction details before committing the changes.

• UOCAVA and MOVE Report – Additional sorting options are provided so the report can be generated according to your preferred manner.

• UOCAVA and FPCA by Year Report – Additional sorting provided by jurisdiction/precinct.

• Voter Registration -  Pop up message will appear if UOCAVA status is set with FPCA and the registration location is not also set to “Federal Post Card Application”

• Inspector -  Able to view inspectors assigned to counting board in csv and copy them forward to another election date.

Updating Voting History

Voting History for the November 6, 2018 election should be uploaded within 7 days of the election. All voting history must be entered now! Corrections should be entered as soon as possible following the county canvass. 

What system do I use?

EPB Uploads – Use (old) QVF Legacy to upload your EPB history file.

Voting History Module – If you used the QVF Precinct List or need to manually adjust and/or correct voter history, use the QVF application you use for all other tasks (QVF Refresh or Legacy). 

Updating voting history, changes verify or challenged statuses to active and turns off the cancellation countdown where necessary. Accurate and timely entry of voting history ensures voter registration records that had been on the cancellation countdown become active and are not cancelled after two general elections.

There are some circumstances which require you to manually add or remove a voter’s history for an election including:

• Voters added to the Unlisted tab in the ePollbook or manually added to the Precinct List, once voter registration issues have been resolved
• Voters who received provisional envelope ballots, if counted

You must also manually remove voting history for AV voters whose ballots were received in QVF and rejected later, most commonly if a voter passes away before Election Day or the voter did not sign their AV envelope.

SPECIAL NOTE: If an election other than November 6, 2018 was downloaded and used on Election Day, you MUST MANUALLY enter the voting history. DO NOT upload the EPB voter history file for a wrong election.

For instructions on manually recording voting history and/or making corrections, review the QVF Legacy Chapter 5 of the QVF Reference Manual or QVF Refresh Chapter 5.

For instructions on uploading EPB Voter History into QVF or the EMP, review pages 40-41 of the Electronic Pollbook User Manual.

Report Account Changes

Did you hire temporary staff for the election?  Did they have eLearning Center and/or QVF accounts?  Be sure to report these changes so their accounts can be deactivated.  Use the Account Request Form to delete or add accounts.

QVF Refresh Training Classes Now Available! 

QVF Refresh Training classes are now available for December 2018 through February 2019 at a variety of locations. In addition to the conduct of these classes off site, we are scheduling classes just outside of Lansing in February, March, and April 2019. These are all full-day QVF Refresh Complete sessions which include voter registration. All classes combine instructional guidance with a PowerPoint Presentation and videos coupled with Hands On exercises. Seats are limited. Classes may be cancelled for low enrollment at least one week prior to the class. Each participant should register for the class via the eLearning Center. See the full listing of classes available by selecting Classes in the Browse by Subject box.

For those of you who miss the opportunity to sign up before classes in your region fill, or if we have not scheduled trainings in your training region, please use the Interest Tracker or “Notify me of upcoming sessions” link in eLearning to express your need for a class. We use this feature to plan for and determine the locations and seating needs for future training sessions.

BOE Question of the Week:

There was a recall election for township officials on our November 6^th ballot, if the challengers to the incumbents were successful in their recall election, when do the new officers take office?

Answer:  These new officers should take the oath of office and take their position as soon as the election is certified by the County Board of Canvassers.

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