The Quick Start Management Guide for 

Ballot Preparation/Printing and Pre-Election 

Testing is a snapshot of processes and 

procedures for local election administrators 

to use for ballot preparation and logic 

and accuracy testing. It is a guide that 

assists election officials with some of 

their most critical tasks—formatting and 

printing ballots and programming and 

testing voting systems. A comprehensive 

set of Management Guidelines is under 

development and will be released in 

modules in 2007 and 2008.


Quick Start Management Guide for Ballot Preparation/Printing and Pre-Election Testing

Ballot Preparation/Printing

•	 Review the voting system documentation

before beginning ballot design and layout.

Take time to understand the significance

of the placement of ovals, folds, timing

marks, and precinct/ballot style identifiers.

Example: If the ballot is folded on the ovals, 

it may impact the scanner’s ability to read 

the ballot.

•	 Develop procedures for recording the

audio ballot. Listen to all candidates’

names and contests to ensure that the

pronunciation is correct. In addition,

jurisdictions offering ballots in languages

other than English should develop

procedures for reviewing the pronunciation

of candidates’ names and contests in the

alternate language(s). Tip: Ask candidates to 

record the pronunciation of their names when 

they file for office.

•	 Confirm that ballotsconform to all applicable

State laws relating to the order/rotation of

candidates’ names, placement and wording of contest headers, font size of contest

headers, and other issues. Example: Some 

States require that ballots be printed with a State 

seal. Be aware that any printing that appears in 

the scanner “read area” could be read as a vote 

or an unrecognized candidate name. Printing the 

seal in a gray tone can reduce this possibility.

•	 Require that several people proof all ballots

at each stage of the design and production

processes—during initial layout, when

the printer delivers proofs of the ballot,

and when the printer delivers the printed
Quick Start Management Guide for Ballot Preparation/Printing and Pre-Election Testing

ballots. In addition, proof each ballot style

on the voting machine and on the audio

ballot. Tip: Ask staff members from another 

department to help proof the ballots.

•	 Reproof ballots after changes or corrections

are made. Be aware that any change made

to the paper ballot also requires changing

and reproofing the voting machine and

audio ballots.

•	 Review State laws and administrative

procedures to ensure the uniformity of

voters’ instructions for marking the ballot.

Remember to include specific instructions,

if required, for ballot marking devices.

Example: black, blue, or red ink; pencils; felt-tip 

markers.

•	 Use vendor-certified or prequalified

printing companies. Your contract should

include details about paper stock quality

and weight, ink density, and other printing

specifications. Ask your print vendor to

provide you with a copy of its internal

quality control procedures. Example: If the 

ink density on the ballot is too light, the scanner 

may have difficulty reading the timing marks. 

The weight of the ballot paper stock may cause 

the scanner to jam frequently.

•	 To ensure that the ink density is consistent

on all ballots, pull ballots from the top,

middle, and bottom of the test deck stack.

•	 Immediately conduct a logic and accuracy

test when the ballots arrive from the

printer. This test must be successfully

completed and validated before mailing


Quick Start Management Guide for Ballot Preparation/Printing and Pre-Election Testing

and/or distributing in-person absentee

and/or early ballots to voters.

•	 Store the ballots in an air-conditioned and

humidity-controlled environment to prevent the ballot stock from absorbing water.

•	 Test ballots printed “on demand” before

distributing them to voters to confirm that

the scanners are able to read the timing

marks.

•	 Develop a “Plan B” in the event that the

printed ballots are not delivered on time.

Example: Make copies of your ballot proofs in 

your office, initial or stamp these copies, and 

maintain a log to record the ballot style and 

quantity duplicated. Votes cast on these ballots 

may need to be hand counted or duplicated onto 

the appropriate paper stock for your ballotscanning device.

Pre-Election Testing—Hardware

•	 Test all components of your voting system

before every election. Test scanners, voting

machines, encoders, electronic poll books,

printers, dials, buttons, card readers, scanner heads, modems, and exterior of voting

booths. Example: If your ballot cards/supervisor cards are encoded with a specific election ID, 

they must be retested before each election.

•	 Develop an internal checklist as part

of your pre-election audit trail. Require

each staff member to date and initial the

checklist after completing each specific test.
Quick Start Management Guide for Ballot Preparation/Printing and Pre-Election Testing

•	 Be aware that many voting system

components, such as voting equipment,

memory cards, and encoders, contain

batteries. Develop an understanding

of the expected life of the batteries and

have a plan in place to manage battery

replacement on Election Day.

•	 Make a backup server available for election

night tabulation purposes. Include system

tests of your servers in your pre-election

testing procedures. If modems are used,

conduct stress tests on the servers in an

environment in which all modems receive

data at the same time.

•	 Use a diagnostic card for testing each

precinct/central count optical scanner to

ensure that the scanner heads are reading

properly. Tip: A can of air spray is a simple, 

preventive maintenance tool that keeps paper 

dust from collecting during scanning.

•	 The calibration of optical scanners may

need to be periodically checked, serviced,

and/or cleaned by the vendor to check

the sensitivity of the visual light readers

to marks on the paper, the type of marker

used, and other factors.

•	 Establish testing procedures to determine

the length of time that the voting machines

will operate on battery power. Be aware

that the batteries may last for a shorter

period of time when using the paper trail

attachment. Tip: Train your poll workers to 

plug a nightlight into the power outlet where the 

last machine in the daisy chain is connected to 

verify that the machines are receiving electricity 

on Election Day.


Quick Start Management Guide for Ballot Preparation/Printing and Pre-Election Testing

Pre-Election Testing—Software 

Logic and Accuracy

•	 Prepare test decks to conduct logic and

accuracy testing of the printed paper

ballots. If you are using a vendor-generated

test deck, supplement the test deck with

blank ballots and ballots that have been

overvoted, undervoted, and hand marked

with dots, checkmarks, and X’s to check

the sensitivity of the scanner heads.

•	 Review State laws and administrative

procedures regarding the types of logic

and accuracy tests required. Examples: (1)

single-vote test deck, in which a vote is cast

for every position on every ballot style;

(2) random-vote test deck (“real world”

voting), which checks the readability of

hand marked dots, X’s, and checkmarks

and different marking devices (e.g., blue,

black, or red ink; pencils; felt-tip markers);

(3) pattern-vote test deck, in which the

expected vote for each contest is a “3, 2, 1” 

vote pattern; and (4) special test deck,

which includes scenarios for multivote,

straight-party, and split-party voting.

•	 Test each precinct count optical scanner

using the memory card specific to that

location on Election Day. Internal

procedures should follow State guidelines

and include collecting a test deck of ballots

for that polling place, printing a zero

report, scanning the test deck, printing the

results tape, validating the results, zeroing

out the memory card, and setting the

scanner for the election. A checklist should


Quick Start Management Guide for Ballot Preparation/Printing and Pre-Election Testing

be completed and signed for each scanner

as part of your pre-election audit trail.

•	 Test your central count optical scanning

equipment using all ballot styles and

following the same procedures as those

used for your precinct count optical

scanners. If you are using more than one

central count optical scanner, be sure to

run the same test deck on all scanners.

Note: This logic and accuracy test must be

completed and validated before mailing or

distributing ballots.

•	 Understand how the voting system will

tabulate a multipage paper ballot: Will it

count each page as a vote cast, or will one

of the pages be designated as the “counter”

page? If one of the pages will be designated

as the counter page, which page will it be?

What are your internal procedures if the

voter does not return all ballot pages?

•	 Follow State guidelines for conducting

logic and accuracy testing on your voting

machines before each election. The testing

pattern may include manual logic and

accuracy testing and/or automatic logic and

testing. Testing patterns should be similar

to the tests performed on the paper ballot

deck (e.g., single-vote, pattern-vote). Test

the audio ballot and the “cancel ballot”

function. Collect all checklists and paper

tapes from each machine as part of your

pre-election audit trail.


Quick Start Management Guide for Ballot Preparation/Printing and Pre-Election Testing

•	 Check the date and time on each voting

machine. Tip: Roll the date and time forward 

to Election Day on several machines before 

performing the logic and accuracy test to ensure 

that the equipment will work correctly on a 

specific date and time.

•	 Finalize the logic and accuracy testing by

entering all test votes from the optical

scanner and voting machine systems into

the central tabulation computer to validate

expected outcomes. Review summary

reports to verify accuracy. Back up the

database and store and seal the test decks,

checklists, and other related pre-election

audit trail documentation.

•	 Manage the pre-election testing by implementing chain-of-custody procedures and

two-person checks and balances throughout the process. Example: One staff person 

records each machine’s protective counter number, serial number, and tamper-resistant seal and 

tape number, and another staff person proofs 

the numbers and signs off on the transfer report.
Quick Start Management Guide for Ballot Preparation/Printing and Pre-Election Testing


Quick Start Management Guide for Ballot Preparation/Printing and Pre-Election Testing