1
No action is necessary for online ballots.
There is nothing you need to do with the ballots cast online until the very end of the telling process when you merge them with the paper ballots that have been entered. Almost all of your work with OBS on election day will involve processing paper ballots (verifying voters using outer envelopes and entering the votes cast using paper ballots.)
2
Know the total number of envelopes you start with.
Before you begin processing paper ballots, please ensure you have the total count of all the outer envelopes that each telling station started with (including verified, unverified, ineligible, and duplicate envelopes). OBS will ask you for each station's total count. (Please retain the outer envelopes.)
3
Ballot Count Verification Form.
You will be asked for the count of envelopes containing paper ballots in two places in OBS.
Right after Voter Verification (short form)
Right after Ballot Entry (longer form, scroll down to see the entire form)
In both places, OBS will ask tellers to enter/verify the following counts:
Total outer envelopes the station started with (A), which includes any that tellers verified in OBS as they were submitted by in-person voters.
Total outer envelopes from individuals who are not eligible to vote or who could not be identified using the name on the outer envelope (B)
Total inner envelopes with marking(s) on them that could identify a voter (C)
Total outer envelopes from individuals who have already voted online (D)
4
Invalid Ballots: Tellers will encounter invalid ballots in two different places:
Invalid outer/inner envelope(s) during voter verification
Invalid ballot(s) [the actual paper ballot itself] during ballot entry
Invalid Votes: Tellers will encounter invalid votes only during ballot entry
5
Count of all envelopes must match.
Please remember that the Ballot Count Verification forms check the math (count) to ensure all ballots are accounted for.
IMPORTANT: If numbers shown on the “Ballot Count Verification” form do not add up, please review and, if necessary, correct the values for items A, B, C, and/or D. If the error remains unresolved and the system does not allow you to proceed to the next step, make the necessary adjustment and include an explanation on the Station Statistics screen when you reach that step of the process.