On election night, VotingWorks recommends scanning ballots by type in the following order and recording the total ballot count for each ballot type during the scanning process:

1. Original Absentee ballots

2. Duplicate Resolution Board Absentee ballots

3. Original Precinct ballots (affidavit, curbside, emergency)

4. Duplicate Resolution Board Precinct ballots

Scan Ballot Batches

Before scanning the first ballot batch, confirm that Ballot Scanner displays No ballots have been scanned and that the physical scanner display shows no scans. If otherwise, please see Zero Ballot Scanner to reset the counter(s).

To load a ballot batch, place a stack of ballots into the feeder tray of the scanner connected to Ballot Scanner. VotingWorks recommends scanning no more than 50 ballot sheets per batch. The ballots need to be in a neat stack, unfolded and lying flat, but ballots can be in any orientation (e.g. upside down or backwards is fine).

Click Scan new batch in the top right to start scanning. Ballots will feed through the scanner automatically and the number of ballots scanned within each batch will progress onscreen. The batch is finished scanning when a timestamp is presented under the Finished At header for that particular batch.

Once the batch finishes scanning, remove it from the output tray on the scanner and place the next stack of ballots in the feeder tray. Repeat the scanning process for as many batches are necessary to finish scanning all ballots.

Adjudicate Ballots

Ballot Scanner will stop scanning and present a review screen if scanning cannot be completed due to a blank sheet, overvoted contest, scan mode mismatch, or an otherwise unreadable ballot sheet. The review screen will display an image of the scanned ballot sheet, the reason why scanning was stopped, and confirm that this ballot sheet has not been tabulated yet.

Blank & Overvoted Ballots

Original Ballot Scan

If scanning an original voter-marked ballot, remove the last ballot sheet scanned from the scanner output tray and confirm it matches the ballot sheet displayed onscreen. Once removed, click Original Ballot Removed and confirm by clicking Confirm Ballot Removed and Continue Scanning. Once confirmed, the scanner will resume scanning ballots in the batch.

The example below shows an Overvote detected that is being removed for resolution board review.

The removed ballot should be duplicated and to prepare for Resolution Board review. Using a red pen, mark the removed ballot as Original and the duplicated ballot as Duplicate with both ballots number consecutively. For example, the first ballot removed and duplicated should be marked as Original #1 and Duplicate #1. Place both the original and duplicate ballots in an envelope to provide to the Resolution Board.

The Resolution Board will examine the original ballot and mark the duplicate ballot in a manner consistent with the voter’s intent and applicable laws. When all original ballot batches have been scanned, a final batch containing all the duplicated ballots may be scanned to reincorporate these ballots into the tally.

Duplicate Ballot Scan

If scanning a duplicated ballot prepared by the Resolution Board, first confirm that the reason presented on screen is valid and that the duplicate ballot should be tabulated as such. VotingWorks recommends scanning all duplicate ballots as the last batch on election night.

To tabulate the duplicate ballot, click Tabulate Duplicate Ballot and then Tabulate Ballot and Continue Scanning. The duplicate ballot will be recorded with the condition shown on screen and the scanner will continue scanning the remaining ballots in the batch.

The example below shows a Blank Ballot duplicated by the Resolution Board that is being tabulated as a blank ballot.

Unreadable Ballots

Ballot Scanner may show a Unreadable ballot screen for a properly marked ballot if it's unable to decode ballot information due to page skew, dust, or tampering of the ballot. When a ballot sheet is shown as unreadable, you can safely remove the ballot and re-scan the ballot sheet. If the ballot is unreadable on a second scan, you should remove the ballot and prepare a duplicate ballot for the Resolution Board to review.

Mode Mismatch

A mode mismatch error will appear if the scanner mode (Test or Official) does not match the ballot type (Test or Official) and the scanned sheet will not be tabulated. In these cases, you should either remove the ballot from the stack or switch scanner modes.

The example below shows a Test ballot that was scanned in Live mode.

​