On Tuesday morning, Monroe County’s election equipment, manufactured by Hart InterCivic, passed the logic and accuracy test mandated under state statute.
That means the machines are ready to go for the May 7 primary elections.
The result of the successful test, which included running 2,501 paper ballots through four different scanners, came with a one-word announcement from Bob White: “Bingo!”
White is co-owner with his wife, Lori, of B&L IT Services, which is a contractor the county uses for logistics and technical support in connection with elections.
Helping out with the testing work were: election supervisor Kylie Moreland, deputy clerk Ashley Lirot, and chief deputy clerk Laura Wert.
The test was done at the old Johnson Hardware building at 7th and Madison streets, aka Election Central. It took place in the context of a publicly noticed meeting of the three-member county election board: Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne, John Fernandez, and Judith Benckart.
Assisting White on Tuesday morning was Samantha Kerr, who has been working with B&L the last few years. Kerr and her husband are part of the B&L succession plan. The Kerrs will eventually be taking over the business, White said Tuesday morning.
White told the assembled group the origin story for B&L, which was founded 11 years ago, when Browne was chief deputy clerk. He had initially been called in, to fix a router.
The test ballots included every possible permutation of candidate selection, including overvotes—that’s when someone marks more candidates than allowed. In the simplest case that’s when someone chooses both candidates in a two-person race.
On Election Day, if a voter submits to the polling place scanner a ballot that contains an overvote, the scanner will not accept the ballot for processing. That gives an in-person Election Day voter a second chance to fill out a ballot.
On Election Day, however, White said that more often than not, voters will just waive that chance and let the scanner process the ballot—which means that the voter’s choices in the overvoted race will not count.
For mailed-in absentee and early in-person voting, the voter would not be not present when the scanner rejects an overvoted ballot. Instead, overvoted ballots are reviewed by the election board to determine if the voter’s intent is apparent.
On Tuesday morning, White described a ballot from last year, that had been flagged as “overvoted” by the scanner. The voter had marked the box for the one candidate, then marked the ballot for the other candidate, then scratched out the first mark, then drawn an arrow to the second mark and written a note next to the arrow: “This one.”
The scanning machine had flagged the ballot as an overvote, but the election board determined that the voter had clearly intended to choose just the one candidate, and allowed the vote to add to that candidate’s tally.
The same ballot, if it had been cast on Election Day, would have been rejected by the scanner, and the voter would have had a choice: let the machine process the ballot, not counting the overvoted race; or filling out a new ballot.
The statutorily prescribed deadline for registering to vote in the May 7, 2024 deadline (29 days before the election) is April 8. But because Monroe County government offices are closed on that day—it is Total Eclipse Day—it is not possible to register to vote in Monroe County on April 8.
The guidance on this from the Indiana Election Division means that residents of Monroe County get an extra half day to register—until noon on April 9. That’s also when early in-person voting starts.
But for Indiana counties where the local clerk’s office is open on Total Eclipse Day, there is no extension of the deadline. State offices are open on Total Eclipse Day. So the state’s online registration system still closes at the end of the day (midnight) on April 8.
From the March edition of the Election Division Dispatch (emphasis added in bold):
If your office is closed on April 8, 2024, then the deadline to receive paper voter registration forms rolls over to noon, April 9, 2024, but online applications still must be received by 11:59 PM, April 8, 2024 since the state is not closed. … Also note that early voting is NOT delayed due to the filing deadline rollover. It must begin when the clerk’s office opens on April 9, 2024, which means your public test must be completed by April 8, 2024.
If your county is not closed on “eclipse day” then it’s business as usual and there are no changes to your calendar or procedures.
Did anyone offer an explanation as to why voters would waive the right to revote if the scanner rejects it?
For early voting don’t we place our ballot in a scanner and are told if it’s ok or not?
We early voters now put our ballot in an envelope, and drop that in a box .. to be scanned on election day. Some years back as I recall, we early voters did run ballots thru a scanner. Presumably this could be done now to cure mistakes, but for a new rule about no counting before election day.
Just because it’s scanned doesn’t mean it is counted