Until recent elections, the voting public rarely paid attention to how mail-in ballots were processed, verified, and submitted for tabulation. It just happened. The election results appeared on television way past your kid’s bedtime and that was that. Now, it seems everyone is concerned with this mostly administrative process. Election offices at any level relying on manual tabulation by volunteers will find their procedures questioned. Fortunately, automated ballot processing provides the level of accountability crucial to election officials’ credibility. What is Automated Ballot Processing? Automated ballot processing uses hardware and software technologies to process mailed-in paper ballots instead of manually verifying, sorting, and counting votes. Automated technology is cheaper, faster, and more accurate than manual handling. Automation also improves the voting process by making complex electoral systems easier to use. Automated Ballot Processing Security and Accountability The first question an election official would ask a provider of automated ballot processing technology is: “How do you guarantee security?” The election official will field the same question from voters in their municipality. Constituents demand accountability from their election administrators. Automated processing answers this fundamental question. Ballot integrity is central to the voting process. It begins with scanning each envelope, verifying signatures, and sorting the sealed ballots by precinct. Digital ingestion of the ballot provides an audit trail, ballot process management, and status reporting. Scans are archived in color, grayscale, or black and white. Automated signature verification reduces the labor costs associated with manual validation and assures regulatory and security compliance. The automated systems detect voters’ signatures with barcodes and verifies them against a database of registered voters. Voter fraud or voting twice is virtually impossible with automated ballot processing. If an individual who has already voted using an absentee ballot shows up at a polling station and attempts to vote again, electronic poll books will display that information. Poll workers will not admit the voter or will require them to complete a provisional ballot. If a second vote slips through, the election database detects two votes from the same voter and only counts the first vote. The U.S. Elec­tion Assist­ance Commis­sion recommends states establish written procedures for the manual duplication of voted ballots to verify that each vote is counted only once. The number of mailed ballot return envelopes must balance with the tabulation. This standard accounting practice assures the vote is correct. Other automated equipment may open the outside envelopes and the carrier envelopes that hold the ballots. The opening and extraction process uses precise milling technology and thickness detection. Automated opening is safer and provides a higher level of security than opening by hand. Workers are considerably less involved, supporting a voter’s privacy. How Election Offices Benefit from Automated Ballot Processing When should city, county, and state election offices consider an automated process? When: It is difficult to recruit qualified administrative staff. This is especially relevant given record low unemployment. There have been irregular vote counts in past elections. Candidates, constituents, and the media routinely question the vote counts. There is a need to reduce the number of election workers. The ballot us too complex to be easily read by workers. The vote count comes in too slowly. With automated ballot processing, election offices can provide a greater level of security for citizens. Trust in the system is escalated. Any thought of improper handling by workers is eliminated. Public perception of the election officials and the office is positive. Voters trust that election workers are custodians of important information and work in the community’s interests. The election office has proven accountability. With mail-in voting, citizens can submit their ballot when it is convenient. However, the surge of mail that election centers receive is often overwhelming. Ballot surges are taxing for municipalities lacking enough employees they can redeploy for processing the envelopes. Analysts predict mail-in balloting to increase. Government employee headcount likely will not. How will city, county, and state governments count tens or hundreds of thousands of ballots? Privacy and security are paramount concerns. Automated equipment and software allow election officials to process thousands of ballots per hour with secure tracking and accountability. Implementation Tritek features patented vote-by-mail technology. Our vote-by-mail solutions are custom designed and built for each municipalities’ specific requirements. This includes floor space consideration, volume fluctuations, and types of ballot designs. Portable and desktop systems are available. The number of sort bins is customizable based on volume requirements. Tritek’s Correct Elect technology is proven at many county election offices, nationwide. Tritek holds the exclusive patent on ballot method and apparatus to provide a full audit trail, ballot process management, and status reporting. We custom design and build Vote-By-Mail solutions that will fit any facility, ready to process any mail volume and ballot design.   View Related Vote By Mail Articles: Is Vote by Mail Safe? How Does Automated Ballot Sorting Work? Addressing the Top Concerns of Vote By Mail Automated Processing

Despite some voters and election boards questioning whether voting by mail in the 2020 presidential election was secure and efficient, the response was overwhelmingly positive. This comes as no surprise to those enrolled in the absentee voting program. Municipalities nationwide administer this program successfully. The difference between the past election and the next one is an expected increase in volume and added security. Analysts expect that after experiencing mail-in voting, more voters will choose this method in the future. State legislatures will work to make the process more efficient and avoid any element of mistrust. The Need for Automated Ballot Processing Mail-in voting makes the voting process easier. Voters can submit their ballot when it is convenient for them, rather than finding time on election day or during an early voting period. However, the surge of ballots that election centers receive is often overwhelming. It is taxing for small municipalities without enough employees they can redeploy to process the mail. Given that mail-in balloting is predicted to increase, and government employee count probably will not, how will city, county, and state governments count tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of ballots? Privacy and security are paramount concerns. Ballots must undergo a series of security measures, including signature matching and evidence of tampering. A mail-in ballot has two envelopes: an outer return envelope and an inner “carrier” envelope which holds the secret ballot. From a labor perspective, two envelopes must be opened, often by hand. Automated equipment and software allow election officials to process thousands of ballots per hour with secure tracking and accountability. How Does Automated Ballot Processing Work? Two processes are necessary—physical/mechanical and digital. The mechanical process includes opening the envelopes and extraction. The opening and extraction process uses precise milling technology and thickness detection. Automated opening is safer for the contents than opening by hand. The ballot is then transferred to a workstation and automatically sorted. Ballot integrity is fundamental to the voting process. Technology supports that value. The digital process provides an audit trail, ballot process management, and status reporting. Automated ballot processing systems can archive ballot scans in color, grayscale, or black and white. Accurate signature verification reduces labor costs of manual validation and assures regulatory and security compliance. The system detects ballots with barcodes and verifies signatures against a database of registered voters. Voter fraud or voting twice is virtually impossible with automated ballot processing. When a voter who has already voted via absentee ballot shows up at a polling station and tries to vote again, electronic poll books will display that information. Poll workers do not admit the voter to the polling station or voting booth. If a second vote slips through, the election computer system identifies two votes from the same voter and only counts the first one received. Any Size Municipality There is a misconception that vote-by-mail equipment is only for large voting operations. Some election experts assume that smaller districts handle absentee ballots manually. This is untrue. Automated ballot processing solutions can be configured to fit any size office. A desktop version is ideal for offices where volume is light, budgets are tight, and floor space is limited. For growing communities, sort bins and new features can be added at any time. The county will not have to “re-buy” a new system simply because voters have moved to the area. Automated ballot technology is scalable, based on volume and available space. In addition, automated ballot processing machines sort regular mail, not just ballots. The county’s inbound mail can be sorted with technology, rather than by hand. With automation, the county mail center can deliver departmental mail earlier in the day because the automated process is faster. Employees can act on mail sooner and improve service to their constituents. Technology processes inbound mail at speeds up to 15,000 pieces per hour, allowing organizations to redeploy manual sorting labor to other work. The equipment is not idle between elections. Execution Tritek features patented Vote-By-Mail technology. Each Vote-By-Mail Solution is custom designed and built for each municipalities’ specific requirements. This includes floor space requirements, volume fluctuations, and types of ballot designs. Portable and desktop systems are available. The number of sort bins is customizable based on volume requirements. Tritek’s Correct Elect technology is proven at many county election offices. Tritek holds the exclusive patent on the ballot method and apparatus to provide a full audit trail, ballot process management, and status reporting. Tritek’s patented Vote-By-Mail technology is at work in counties nationwide. We custom design and build Vote-By-Mail solutions that will fit any facility process virtually any mail volume and ballot design.   Related Vote By Mail Resources: Top 5 Questions Election Officials Ask About Vote by Mail Is Vote By Mail Safe? Addressing Concerns with Automated Processing for Mail-In Ballots

Since the 2020 general election, vote-by-mail has been a hot topic. People who previously had nothing to do with mailed communications suddenly became advocates or opponents of the methods counties and other jurisdictions used to receive and count ballots. Much of the information on which people base their opinions comes from sources with little understanding of the technology and security built into absentee ballot processing. Election officials in smaller communities, who had always handled their absentee ballots with manual processes, assume an automated solution must be complicated and expensive. That is not true, but we’ve spoken to many officials that assumed their size excluded them from a modern ballot intake and verification system. This article answers questions commonly on the minds of election officials from small to medium size voting districts and explains how Tritek Technologies’ Correct Elect system can work for them. See a short video about Correct Elect. 1. What About Security? Naturally, everyone is concerned about security. People with political agendas will scrutinize ballot handling in future elections. No one wants to be called on to justify or defend their ballot processing workflow that relies on equipment or software vulnerable to questioning by concerned citizens. Several states have conducted their elections entirely by mail for years, with no more instances of voting irregularities than in areas that rely heavily on in-person polling places. The process is solid and reliable. There simply has not been a problem. In areas where automation technology has been deployed, ballot processing is faster, easier, and more reliable than the manual methods they replaced. Correct Elect vote-by-mail equipment compares the ballot signatures against the signatures of record for automatic or manual signature verification. The system processes addresses, signatures, and barcodes while storing electronic images of each ballot, complete with the processing date and time. After capturing data and verifying the signatures, the vote-by-mail system sorts the ballots to the proper precincts for tallying. Though the process is fast, ballots travel through the high-speed equipment with minimal damage. Correct Elect machines even handle ballot designs featuring security flaps. Tritek equipment processed millions of ballots during the 2020 general election with zero customer complaints about jams or damage. 2. Can’t People Vote Twice, Once by Mail and Again in Person? Cases of double-voting in the United States are extremely rare, probably because the penalties are severe. Voter fraud is a third-degree felony with punishment of up to a $10,000 fine and ten years in prison. Violators will also go to jail if they impersonate someone else, steal ballots, or forge a signature. The impact of an undetected double-vote is miniscule. Candidates and ballot measures rarely win or lose by a single vote in local elections and never in national contests. In short, the reward of voter fraud doesn’t justify the risk, so voters almost never try it. Should a voter, either with malice or by mistake, attempt to vote twice, security built into the automated system will prevent their ballots from being counted more than once. If a voter at a polling station tries to vote again after already voting via an absentee ballot, the electronic poll books, updated with information supplied by Correct Elect, will show their ballot had already been received. Poll workers will not allow them access to a voting booth, or they will direct the voter to complete a provisional ballot. If by some chance a second vote slips through, the election computer system identifies two votes from the same voter and only counts the first one received. 3. Do Ballot Sorting Machines Sit Idle Between Elections? Ballot sorting equipment from Tritek is used to sort regular mail, not just ballots. Many cities and counties find that using the Correct Elect equipment every day allows them to distribute incoming mail to individuals and departments faster and with lower labor costs. Between elections, their investment in mail sorting technology continues to provide value. 4. Isn’t Vote-by-Mail Technology Only for Districts with Big Budgets and Lots of Space? Tritek configures Correct Elect vote-by-mail solutions to fit any size operation. A desktop version is ideal for offices where volume is light, or space is an issue. The systems are also expandable. Customers can add sort bins and new features at any time to account for population growth. Tritek designs the equipment to customer specifications and customizes the equipment to meet the requirements of each election district. 5. How Big is a Ballot Sorting Machine? People see images of large sorting machines such as those used by the US Postal Service and believe they need warehouse-size space to accommodate the equipment. With Tritek multi-pass sorting schemes, ballot processing equipment can sort ballots to the precinct level without consuming lots of floor space. You don’t need a bin for every precinct. This makes it easy for the equipment to fit into your available space. Tritek Correct Elect Vote-by-Mail Equipment Tritek features patented vote-by-mail technology. We custom-design and build each vote-by-mail solution according to each voting district’s requirements. This includes floor space availability, volume fluctuations, and ballot designs. Portable and desktop systems are options for lower volume and limited space environments. Sorting bins are customized based on a voting district’s volume requirements. Tritek’s Correct Elect technology has an exemplary track record at many county election offices. Tritek holds the exclusive patent on the ballot method and apparatus. The vote-by-mail system provides a full audit trail, ballot process management, and status reporting. County election offices save ballot scans in color, gray scale, or black and white. Available options depend on server space and local requirements. Signature verification reduces the labor costs of validation and compliance. The Tritek system verifies signatures with barcodes against a database of registered voters. To learn more about the Correct Elect system and how it can work in your environment, contact Tritek Technologies.

If COVID 19 was not the most discussed topic for the past two years, then certainly vote-by-mail was. Though not new, the practice of vote-by-mail (VBM) gained widespread attention primarily due to the aggressive presidential race of 2020. Reports in the news, internet sources, and around the water cooler had elements of fact and fiction. But most of these sources did not understand the technology and security built into absentee ballot-processing. Smaller districts, wards, and cities assumed that VBM technology is complex, cost-prohibitive, and designed for large municipalities and states. It is time to step back and objectively consider vote-by-mail solutions for small to medium size voting districts. Is VBM safe? Irrespective of the size and cost of vote-by-mail technology, the first question asked by any jurisdiction is usually about safety and security. Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington state have conducted their elections entirely by mail for years. The process is not new. Technology continues to make ballot processing faster, easier, and more reliable. VBM equipment compares the ballot signatures against the signatures of record for automatic or manual signature verification. The system processes addresses, signatures, and barcodes while storing electronic images of each ballot, complete with the processing date and time.  After capturing data and verifying the signatures, the VBM system sorts the ballots to the proper precincts for tallying. Handling paper ballots with high-speed equipment presents minimal damage risk. The machines are built to transport ballots safely through the machine. Even ballot designs featuring security flaps process flawlessly. Millions of ballots were processed by Tritek equipment during the 2020 general election with no complaints about jams or damage. What about voter fraud or someone voting twice? The United States Postal Inspection Service’s jurisdiction covers "crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the U.S. Mail, the postal system, or postal employees." With roots going back to the late 18th century, the USPIS is the country’s oldest continually operating federal law enforcement agency. The Inspection Service is well-equipped to regulate vote-by-mail. Voting more than once in a federal election is a third-degree felony. Punishment includes up to a $10,000 fine and ten years in prison. You will also go to jail if you impersonate someone else, steal ballots, or forge a signature. The US Postal Inspection Service is very efficient at catching and punishing anyone using the mail to commit fraud. 98% of criminals charged by the USPIS are convicted. When a voter who has already voted via absentee shows up at a polling station and tries to vote again, electronic poll books will display that information. The voter is not admitted to the polling station or voting booth. If a second vote slips through, the election computer system identifies two votes from the same voter and only counts the first one received. VBM technology is a significant investment to only use every other year. What are the other uses for a vote-by-mail system? Ballot sorting machines are used to sort regular mail, not just ballots. The city, county, or ward’s inbound mail that once was manually sorted can be automated. Individuals and departments receive their mail earlier in the day because the automated process is faster. County employees take action on that mail sooner. Sorting technology processes at speeds up to 15,000 pieces per hour. Manual sorting labor is re-deployed to other work. The equipment is not idle between elections. Isn’t vote-by-mail technology only for state governments or very populous voting districts with big budgets and lots of space? Smaller districts often handle absentee ballots manually in the belief that vote-by-mail equipment is only for large voting operations, but VBM solutions are configured to fit any size operation. A desktop version is ideal for offices where volume is light, budgets are tight, and space availability is an issue. For growing communities, sort bins and new features can be added at any time. The county need not “re-buy” a new system simply because new voters have moved in. The equipment is designed to customer specifications and customized to meet the requirements of each election district. Our county has hundreds of precincts. How big will a ballot sorting machine be? Counties do not need a bin for every precinct. With multi-pass sorting schemes, ballot processing equipment can sort down to the precinct level. VBM technology providers help counties and other voting districts set up sorting schemes. Tritek ‘Correct Elect’ Vote-by-Mail Equipment Tritek features patented Vote-By-Mail technology. Each Vote-By-Mail Solution is custom designed and built for each voting district’s requirements. This includes floor space availability, volume fluctuations, and ballot designs. Portable and desktop systems are options for lower volume and limited space environments. Sorting bins are customized based on a voting district’s volume requirements. Tritek’s Correct Elect technology has an exemplary track record at many county election offices. Tritek holds the exclusive patent on ballot method and apparatus. The VBM system provides a full audit trail, ballot process management, and status reporting. County election offices save ballot scans in color, grayscale, or black and white. Available options depend on available server space and local requirements. Signature verification reduces the labor costs of validation and compliance. Signatures detected with barcodes are verified by a database of registered voters.   More Vote by Mail Resources: Top 5 Questions Election Officials Ask About Vote by Mail How Does Automated Ballot Processing/Sorting Work? How to Ensure Complete Ballot Accountability for Elections

Despite some voters and government officials’ questions about whether vote by mail in the 2020 presidential election was secure and efficient, the result was overwhelmingly positive. This should come as no surprise to voters perennially enrolled in the absentee voting program. Counties and other districts have been administering successful vote-by-mail programs for years. The difference between the 2020 election and the next election is an expected increase in mail-in ballot volume and additional security. Analysts expect after having experienced mail-in voting, more voters will choose this method in the future. Several state legislatures will change processes in coming years to make them more efficient and avoid any element of mistrust.   Ballot Design Local governments can use several templates to design their ballots and envelopes. However, the experts encourage them to observe some general best practices: Follow USPS requirements for size, address location, and barcode placement Follow state rules and guidelines for language Coordinate with vendors or in-house print facilities well in advance Emphasize headings to set the context. What is most important? Use simple language Break dense legal information into bullet points   Signature Verification Many states compare the signature on the absentee ballot envelope to a signature in the voter registration file. Processing a mail ballot is time-consuming and can involve both automated and manual steps. The technology used is an automated signature verification application. A camera captures the voter’s signature from the ballot return envelope as it is sorted. An automated system compares the signature to the reference image from the voter registration database. In a procedure used by many jurisdictions, automated systems forward signatures with low matching scores to human inspectors for further evaluation. These pre-checks are done with the envelope closed. Workers cannot tell by looking at the envelope if the voter is Republican, Democrat, or Independent. No one will see the voter’s ballot during the verification process.   USPS Tracking While not required, the Postal Service recommends using the Intelligent Mail barcodes on ballot envelopes so they can take advantage of the Informed Visibility® Mail Tracking and Reporting (IV®-MTR) service. The IV-MTR application provides information about when and where the Postal Service sorts a mail piece on mail-processing equipment. The IV-MTR application allows you to track mail pieces as they travel through the mail stream to determine status by individual mail piece. The system records when and where the USPS scans a mail piece or container. Election officials can track mail pieces via Customer Registration ID (CRID), Mailer ID (MID), and mail piece identification numbers. The USPS provides tracking results as a single lookup or in a data stream. Absentee ballots can be tracked as they are mailed to voters. Completed ballots can also be tracked as voters return them via the US Postal Service. Some jurisdictions make the IV-MTR data available to voters so they can track their own ballots after they have mailed them.   Counting and Reporting States have different processes for counting votes. Those with significant rural populations have voted by mail for years. Typically, the elections office sends an absentee ballot to every active registered voter that requests one. The voter mails the ballot back through the Postal Service, drops it in a drop box, or leaves it at a city office in person on election day. After signature verification, election workers remove and unfold the ballots. Clerks examine them looking for tears, tape, or any substance that might clog the ballot-counting machines. A scanner reads the ballots and converts them from into data used for tabulation.   Sorting and Signature Capture Technology Implementation of an automated vote-by-mail system requires an investment. States need up-to-date addresses, tracking systems, and verification methods. However, studies have found that voting by mail is far cheaper than in-person alternatives.   Tritek ‘Correct Elect’ Vote-by-Mail Equipment Tritek features patented Vote-By-Mail technology. Every Tritek Correct Elect solution is custom designed and built for each election entity’s specific requirements. This includes floor space constraints, volume fluctuations, and types of ballot designs. Portable and desktop systems are available. The number of sort bins is customizable based on volume requirements. Tritek’s Correct Elect technology is proven at many county election offices. Tritek holds the exclusive patent on the ballot method and apparatus the system uses to provide a full audit trail, ballot process management, and status reporting. Our system saves ballot scans in color, grayscale, or black and white depending on server space and local requirements. Signature verification reduces labor costs and improves regulatory and security compliance. View the Correct Elect Government Resources The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has an extensive website with a wealth of resources and dozens of white papers to help election officials administer vote-by-mail. The Inspector-General conducts audits, evaluations, and assessments of EAC programs and operations. Related Vote by Mail Resources: How Does Automated Ballot Processing Work? Vote by Mail: A Special Flavor of Inbound Mail Processing How to Improve Processing Speed for Vote By Mail Envelopes Election Officials Are Expecting a Surge in Vote-By-Mail