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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTabulator Procedures2022 Municipal Election PROCEDURES FOR THE USE OF VOTE TABULATORS Contents 1Definitions....................................................................................................................................2 2Application of Procedure .............................................................................................................3 3Election Officials..........................................................................................................................3 4Voting...........................................................................................................................................4 5Candidates/Scrutineers.................................................................................................................4 6Ballots ...........................................................................................................................................5 7Use of Vote-Counting Equipment ................................................................................................5 8Programming of the Vote Tabulator............................................................................................7 9Testing of Vote Tabulators...........................................................................................................9 10Testing of Spare Vote Tabulators ...............................................................................................10 11Procedure at the Voting Place ....................................................................................................11 11.1 Opening the Voting Location ...........................................................................................11 11.2 Zero Tape.........................................................................................................................11 11.3 Marking the Ballot ...........................................................................................................12 11.4 Blank or Over-Voted Ballots...........................................................................................13 11.5 Defective Ballots ..............................................................................................................13 11.6 Ambiguously Marked Ballots ..........................................................................................14 11.7 No Election Official Initials Ballots.................................................................................15 12Procedure for marking a ballot using the Voter Assistant Terminal (VAT) Session .................15 13Procedure in the event a tabulator malfunctions during the voting process ...............................16 14Procedure for Closing the Voting Place -Advance Votes.........................................................18 15Procedure for Closing the Voting Place -Voting Day...............................................................19 16Procedure for Opening/Closing of Voting Place -Institutions and Retirement Homes ............20 17Recounts.....................................................................................................................................21 18Election Results ..........................................................................................................................21 18.1 Production of election results from the advance vote ......................................................21 18.2 Production of election results from voting day ................................................................22 19Retention of election documents ................................................................................................22 Schedule 039 1 Definitions In this procedure, Act - means the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, S.O.c32 as amended; Auxiliary Compartment - means the front compartment of the ballot box where electors’ un-counted ballots are temporarily stored in the event of a Vote Tabulator fails to operate; Ballot - means the paper or printed form, through which an Elector votes, containing the names of Candidates for any one office or question; Ballot Box - means the cardboard box used with the Vote Tabulator where counted ballots are stored; Candidate - means a person who has been nominated under Section 33 of the Act; Clerk - means the Clerk of the City of Kitchener appointed by by-law or their designate; Election Official - means any person designated by the Clerk to perform certain election functions. The term “election official” includes but is not limited to the following: Managing Deputy Returning Officer (MDRO), Deputy Returning Officer (DRO), Tabulator Assistant (TA), and Election Assistant (EA); Memory Card - means a cartridge or card where all tabulated totals from the Vote Tabulator are stored; Secrecy Folder - means an apparatus in which a ballot can be placed so as to conceal the names of the candidates and the marks upon the face of the ballot but does expose the initials of the designated Election Official; Scrutineer – means an individual appointed in writing, by a candidate, to represent them; Cancelled Ballot – means a ballot for which a replacement ballot has been issued to the Voter; Declined Ballot – means a ballot that cannot be read by the Vote Tabulator and the Voter deliberately declined to re-mark; Rejected Ballot – means a ballot that cannot be read by the Vote Tabulator; Valid Mark – means a readable mark, using the designated black ballot marking marker, made in the designated space to the right of a candidate's name or question; Vote Tabulator - means a machine that digitally scans the ballots to read the votes and tabulate the results; Voter Assistant Terminal – means the accessible ballot marking device; Voting Day – means the day on which the final vote is to be taken in an election, or October 24, 2022,in the case of the 2022 Municipal Election; Zero Results Tape – means the tape produced by the vote tabulator containing zero results at the opening of the poll and the results of votes cast at the close of poll for all contests. 2 Application of Procedure 1. This document establishes the procedures for the use of voting and vote-counting equipment, authorized by by-law for the 2022 Kitchener municipal council and school board elections conducted by the Clerk of the City of Kitchener as Returning Officer pursuant to the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, as amended (Act) and its applicable regulations. 2. The City of Kitchener has passed By-law 2006-135 under Section 42 of the Act authorizing the use of vote tabulators at the voting places (Chapter 197, Municipal Code). 3. Where this procedure does not provide for any matter, an election to which this procedure applies shall be conducted as far as practicable in accordance with the principles of the Act. These principles are generally recognized as being: i. the secrecy and confidentiality of the voting process is paramount; ii. the election shall be fair and non-biased; iii. the election shall be accessible to the voters; iv. the integrity of the process shall be maintained throughout the election; v. certainty that the results of the election reflect the votes cast; and, vi. voters and candidates shall be treated fairly and consistently. 4. The Act gives the authority to the Clerk as Returning Officer, to establish procedures and forms for the use of voting and vote-counting equipment authorized by by-law within the municipality. Subsection 42(4) of the Act provides that the procedures and forms established by the Clerk, if they are consistent with the principles of the Act, prevail over anything in the Act and the regulations made under it. The Act further gives authority to the Clerk to provide for any matter or procedure that is not provided for in the Act. 3 Election Officials 1. The Clerk shall appoint Election Officials for the purposes of implementing this procedure and may designate their titles and duties. Such appointments shall be in writing and each Election Official shall be required to take an oath in accordance with the general principles of the Act. 4 Voting 1. To cast a ballot in the election a voter must be: a Canadian citizen; at least 18 years of age as of voting day; a resident of the City of Kitchener or the owner or tenant of land in the City of Kitchener, or the spouse of such owner or tenant; and not prohibited by law from voting. 2. Advance voting will be held no earlier than 30 days prior to voting day. Dates, times, and locations of advance voting shall be established by the Clerk. Advance voting location(s) suitability shall be determined by considering geography (centrality), size, location layout, voter turnout and proximity to transit routes. 3. Voters shall be permitted to vote at any polling location in the City during advance voting. 4. Voting locations established by the Clerk must remain open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, October 24, 2022, in accordance with the Act. 5. Voters shall be permitted to vote at any polling location within the Ward associated to their qualifying address during Voting Day. 6. Depending on the Voters’ qualifications they may be permitted to vote for: a. Regional Chair (1) b. Regional Councillor (4) c. Mayor (1) d. Ward Councillor (1) e. Public School Board - Waterloo Region District School Board (4) f. Separate School Board – Waterloo Catholic District School Board (4) g. French Public - Conseil scolaire Viamonde (1) h. French Separate – MonAvenir (1) 5 Candidates/Scrutineers 1. Candidates may appoint scrutineers in writing in accordance with the regulations outlined in the Municipal Elections Act. 2. Scrutineers must show their written appointment to Election Officials upon request. 3.A candidate may havescrutineersattend voting locations to view the voting process and the counting of votes. 4. A candidate and scrutineer may not both attend a voting location or at the counting of the votes at the same time. Thus, the candidate or the scrutineer must leave the voting location if the other enters the voting location. 5. To protect the secrecy of the vote, scrutineers will be unable to examine the ballots or to object to ballots or to the counting of votes in a ballot as provided for in subsections 47(5)(e) and 47(5)(f) and 54(3) of the Act as the ballots are being fed into the vote tabulator by the Election Official. 6. For the purposes of subsections 3 and 4 above, candidates who enter the voting place are considered to be scrutineers. 6 Ballots 1. Composite paper ballots shall be used for the election which shall include all eligible offices distinguished by school support type. Five ballot types per ward shall be utilized consisting of English-Public, French-Public, English-Separate, French- Separate and Non-Resident. 2. Respecting that the ballot is limited in paper size and character spacing, the Clerk may, with the candidate’s agreement, determine how names shall appear and provide sample placement and font size. 3. Each candidate shall be provided an opportunity to verbally record the pronunciation of their name which shall be used to validate, as accurately as possible, the phonetic programming of the audio ballot. 4. There shall appear on the paper ballot to the right of each candidate’s name a designated space for the marking of the ballot. 5. The instructions on the paper ballot direct the elector to vote by marking an “X” or filling in the blank space adjacent to the candidate of their choice. 6. Section 6 applies with necessary modifications to by-laws and questions, if applicable. 7 Use of Vote-Counting Equipment 1. The City of Kitchener shall utilize portable ballot scanning machines from Dominion Voting for the 2022 Municipal Election, in accordance with By-law 2006-135, authorizing the use of vote tabulator machines. All voting locations during advance voting and on Voting Day shall be provided with an ImageCast Precinct tabulator – Figure 1 (‘tabulator’) to process ballots, except for reduced hours locations. Figure 1: 2. An ImageCast Precinct with Voter Assistant Terminal will be available each advance voting polling location and at a designated polling location on Voting Day. This unit is intended to serve voters with accessibility needs (voters have the option of marking a ballot using the audio accessible ballot marking device) and consists of the following accessible components: • ImageCast Precinct tabulator (Figure 1) • Audio-Tactile Interface (‘handheld device’), with braille markings (Figure 2, 3) • headphones used to interact with the system (Figure 2) • sip & puff device (Figure 2) • hand/foot paddles (‘paddle device’) (Figure 2) • external printer for printing the audio session ballot once the voter has made their selections (Figure 2). Figure 2: Figure 3: 3. Where a vote tabulator has not been provided (in the case of those locations where reduced hours of voting have been authorized by the Clerk), Election Officials shall attend the voting location, and during the established hours of operation, administer the voting process in accordance with established procedures. All marked ballots shall be secure for transport to a regular voting location as designated by the Clerk, for processing through the vote tabulator provided to that location. 8 Programming of the Vote Tabulator 1. The vote tabulator shall be programmed so that a printed record of the number of votes cast for each candidate and with respect to each by-law and question can be produced. 2. The vote tabulator shall be programmed so that the following ballots are returned to the Election Official with the messages described below: (i) A ballot that is blank in all the specified voting spaces, as determined by a vote tabulator, with the message: BLANK BALLOT DETECTED 1 – RETURN BALLOT 2 – ACCEPT BALLOT (ii) A ballot with more designated voting spaces marked for an office than the voter is entitled to vote for, as determined by a vote tabulator, with the message: OVERVOTED FOR AN OFFICE 1–RETURN BALLOT 2–ACCEPT BALLOT (iii) A ballot that is damaged, defective (has been torn or otherwise damaged) or invalid (has been given out in error, improperly printed ballot, the wrong ballot type for that poll) or marked in such a way that it cannot be properly processed by a vote tabulator, with the following messages: DEFECTIVE BALLOT SCAN. PLEASE CORRECT AND REFEED BALLOT AND/OR INVALID BALLOT (iv) A ballot that contains a mark that does not fall within the parameters established to count such mark as a vote, as determined by a vote tabulator, with the message: AMBIGUOUS BALLOT DETECTED 1–RETURN BALLOT (v) A ballot that does not contain the Election Officials initials in the required space at the top, as determined by a vote tabulator, with the message: MISSING ELECTION OFFICIAL SIGNATURE 1–RETURN BALLOT 3. The vote tabulator shall be programmed to accept and tabulate under-voted and over- voted ballots. If an elector properly marks their ballot but chooses to under-votetheir ballot in one of the contests, the tabulator will accurately tabulate the votes that were indicated. If an elector who has overvoted on a contest and chooses not to mark a new ballot, the tabulator will be programmed to tabulate the other properly marked contests. 4. The Voter Assist Terminal shall be programmed so that: (a) the memory card contains all the ballot styles for the specific ward and be programmed to produce all ballot styles for advance voting; (b) each ballot inserted is recognized and a vote can be marked for the selected candidate for each office and for the answer to any by-law or question using the components in Figure 2; (c) the candidate’s names are presented on the audio ballot as close as possible to the phonetic pronunciation provided by the candidate; and (d) the elector is able to review and confirm their selected candidate for each office and for the answer to any by-law or question prior to marking the ballot; 9 Testing of Vote Tabulators 1. Prior to Voting Day, the Clerk shall have the vote tabulators tested to ensure that they will accurately count the votes for all candidates that are marked with the marker provided and with a valid mark in the designated area. 2. When testing the vote tabulators, adequate safeguards shall be taken to ensure that the system, or any part of it, that is used for processing and tabulating votes is isolated from all other applications or programs and that no remote devices are capable of gaining access to the system. 3. There are several “Testing” phases before the voting equipment is ready for use at the advance poll or for Voting Day. (a) Testing the Vote Tabulators (Diagnostic Testing): This test will ensure that the clock, LCD display, system memory, printer, serial port, auxiliary port, and ballot reader are all functioning properly. (b) Testing Memory Cards: This will test every memory card to ensure it is not defective. (c) Testing Ballots Once the ballots have been printed and received from the printing house, a test deck must be prepared and tested on each machine. A test deck must include every type of ballot and be comprised of samples of blank ballots, under-voted ballots, over-voted ballots, and properly completed ballots. (d) Logic and Accuracy Testing of Vote Tabulators The test shall be conducted as follows: (i) assign a varying number of votes to a pre-audited group of ballots marked with the designated black ballot marker in designated area; (ii) manually count each valid vote and record the results; (iii) tabulate the pre-audited ballots using the vote tabulator; (iv) compare the output of the tabulator with the pre-auditedresults. If the Clerk detects any error in the test, the cause of the error shall be ascertained and corrected, and the test repeated until an errorless count is made. (e) Procedure for Testing Voter Assistant Terminals The test shall be conducted as follows: (i) the components shall be used to mark every type of ballot to be used and be comprised of samples of under-voted ballots, over-voted ballots and properly completed ballots using a pre-determined votes to be cast; (iii) compare the results from the tape of the vote tabulator against the predetermined list of votes to be cast. If the Clerk detects any error in the test, the cause of the error shall be ascertained and corrected, and the test repeated until an errorless count is made. (f) Completion of Test and Test Documentation The Clerk shall, at the completion of the test: i. clear the vote totals of the test ballots in each tabulator memory card; ii. seal the memory card inside the tabulator; and iii. retain a complete record of all testing phases in the event that the competency of the voting equipment is questioned in the manner provided for in the Act for the keeping of election records. The Clerk shall have access to the pre-audited group of ballots and other materials used in the programming of the vote tabulators. 10 Testing of Spare Vote Tabulators 1. Prior to Voting Day, any “spare” vote tabulators shall be tested along with the other vote tabulators, as described in the section 9, Testing of Vote Tabulators. 11 Procedure at the Voting Place 11.1 Opening the Voting Location Clerk’s Note: The opening procedure of each subsequent day at advance voting locations will differ from the following steps, whereby the tabulator will be powered on by the Election Official and the tabulating of ballots will resume from the previous advance voting day, providing for a continuous record of vote tabulation. 1. Each tabulator shall be assigned to a particular location. 2. The Election Official responsible shall confirm the tabulator location by checking the label on the side of the machine. 3. In the presence of at least one other Election Official and any candidates or scrutineers present, the Election Official will verify that there are no ballots or other materials present within the ballot box. 4. At locations offering accessible voting, the Election Official will connect the handheld device and printer to the tabulator. 11.2 Zero Tape 1. If a vote tabulator is to be used in a voting place, the Election Official shall, in the presence of all candidates or scrutineers present, cause the vote tabulator to print a copy of all totals in its Memory Card one hour or less before the opening of the voting place confirming zero totals. 2. The Election Official shall verify that the heading at the top of the tape lists the correct voting location name, that the tape contains a listing of candidate’s names and offices as they appear on the official ballot(s), and that the totals are zero for all candidates, by-laws, and questions. 3. If the totals are zero for all candidates, by-laws and questions, the Election Official shall post the first zero tape publicly in the voting location and print a second (duplicate) zero tape. The Election Official shall ensure that the second zero tape printout remains affixed to the tabulator until the close of voting. 4. If the totals are not zero for all candidates, by-laws and questions, the Election Official shall immediately notify the Clerk and shall conduct the vote using the auxiliary compartment of the ballot box until the vote tabulator is made operational or the Clerk provides a back-up vote tabulator to the voting location and a zero totals tape is produced. 11.3 Marking the Ballot 1. The Election Officials appointed by the Clerk to issue ballots shall ensure that the appropriate ballot is delivered to each voter and that the voters’ eligibility is confirmed. 2. The Election Official must adhere to the following procedures: a. verify the identification of the eligible voter, as described in the Act; b. record the voter as voted in the voters’ list; c. initial the appropriate ballot type in the space provided at the top of the composite ballot (the tabulator will return any ballots not initialed by an Election Official); d. place the initialed ballot inside a secrecy folder and hand the ballot to the eligible voter, instructing the voter how to properly mark the ballot to enable it to be processed by the tabulator. 3. Upon receiving the ballot, the voter shall: (i) proceed to the voting compartment; and, (ii) vote by marking an “X” in the box to the right of the candidate’s name of their choosing. 4. After marking the ballot in the voting compartment, the voter shall: (i) insert the ballot into the secrecy folder with the Election Official’s initials showing; (ii) leave the compartment without delay; and, (iii) deliver the secrecy folder containing the ballot to the Election Official. 5. The Election Official shall, in the presence of the voter and without removing the ballot from the secrecy folder, verify the initials of the designated Election Official; and, (i) if the vote tabulator is operational, insert the secrecy folder containing the ballot into the feed area of the vote tabulator until the vote tabulator draws the ballot from the secrecy folder in full view of the voter; or, (ii) if a vote tabulator fails to operate, the Election Official shall: (a) insert the ballots into the auxiliary compartment of the ballot box; and, (b) follow the procedures in Section 13. 6. If requested by the elector, the Election Official shall permit the elector, after verifying the initials of the designated Election Official, to insert the secrecy folder containing the ballot into the feed area of the vote tabulator until the vote tabulator draws the ballot from the secrecy folder. 11.4 Blank or Over-Voted Ballots 1.If a ballot described in Section 8(2)(i)(Blank Ballot)or (ii)(Over-voted)is returned by the vote tabulator and the voter who delivered the ballot is still present, the Election Official shall: (i) explain to the voter why the tabulator has returned the ballot; (ii) the voter will be offered the option of marking a new ballot or requesting that the ballot be accepted as marked; a. if a new ballot is requested, i. deliver another ballot to the voter and instruct the voter how to properly mark the ballot; and ii. mark the first ballot "cancelled" and place it in the appropriate envelope. b. If the voter declines to accept another ballot, the Election Official shall, without showing the face of the ballot to anyone, insert the ballot into the feed area of the vote tabulator and cause the tabulator to accept or override the ballot. The vote tabulator will not record votes for a blank ballot and will not record votes for overvoted offices but will record votes for offices that have been correctly marked. 2. In the cases referred to in Section 8 (2)(i) (Blank Ballot) or (ii) (Over-voted) once a ballot is accepted by the tabulator, the voter cannot receive a new ballot. 3. If a ballot described in Section 8 (2)(i) (Blank Ballot) or (ii) (Over-voted) is returned by the vote tabulator and the voter who delivered the ballot is NOT present, the Election Official shall cast the ballot so that it is accepted into the tabulator. 11.5 Defective Ballots 1. If a ballotdescribed in Section 8 (2)(iii) (Defective/Invalid) is returned by the vote tabulator and the voter who delivered the ballot is still present, the Election Official shall: i. explainto the voter that the ballot is defective/invalid and cannot be accepted by the tabulator; ii. the voter will be requested to mark a new ballot, and the Election Official will deliver another ballot to the voter and mark the first ballot "cancelled" and place it in the appropriate envelope; iii. should the voter decline to accept a new ballot, the Election Official shall inform the voter that the ballot will not be counted and will be marked “declined”. The vote tabulator will not accept defective/invalid or damaged ballots.; iv. the voter shall be advised that they will not be eligible to return to the voting location to obtain another ballot during voting hours. 2. If a ballot described in Section 8 (2)(iii) (Defective/Invalid) is returned by the vote tabulator and the voter who delivered the ballot is NOT present, the Election Official shall: i. mark the ballot as “rejected” and place it in the appropriate envelope. 11.6 Ambiguously Marked Ballots 1. If a ballotdescribed in Section 8 (2)(iv) (Ambiguously Marked) is returned by the vote tabulator and the voter who delivered the ballot is still present, the Election Official shall: i. explain to the voter that the ballot was not counted by the tabulator because an ambiguous mark was detected and the tabulator cannot be certain of the voters’ intent (i.e., a mark is too light, or a small mark was made in a box inadvertently); ii. the Election Official shall ask the voter to review the ballot to ensure that it is clearly marked in the spaces provided; iii. if the voter has inadvertently made a small mark in a box where they had not intended to, the Election Official shall deliver another ballot to the voter and mark the first ballot "cancelled" and place it in the appropriate envelope; iv. should the voter decline to accept a new ballot, the Election Official shall inform the voter that the ballot will not be counted and will be marked “declined” and placed in the appropriate envelope. The vote tabulator will not accept ambiguously marked ballots.; v. the voter shall be advised that they will not be eligible to return to the voting location to obtain another ballot during voting hours. 2. If a ballotdescribed in Section 8 (2)(iv) (Ambiguously Marked) is returned by the vote tabulator and the voter who delivered the ballot is NOT present, the Election Official shall: ii. mark the ballot as “rejected” and place it in the appropriate envelope. 11.7No Election Official Initials Ballots 1. Where there are no Election Official initials in the space provided at the top of the ballot, the designated Election Official shall take all reasonable steps to determine which Election Official issued the ballot and have the appropriate initials placed on the ballot. The ballot shall then be inserted into the vote tabulator. 12 Procedure for marking a ballot using the Voter Assistant Terminal (VAT) Session 1. Voters have the option to mark their ballot by using an assistive ballot marking machine and audio ballot. A handheld device, hand/foot paddles, or a sip and puff device will be used in this process, along with headphones and a printer. The handheld device will be connected to the jacks on the side of the tabulator as part of the opening procedures. The ballot marked by the ballot marking device and printer will be processed by the tabulator in the same manner as a manually marked ballot. 2. If a voter requests an accessible ballot, the following procedures shall be followed: i. the voter attends the voting location and is directed to the Election Official to verify their identification, be struck off the voters’ list and provided a ballot; ii. the voter is directed to the Election Official who is operating the Voter Assistant Terminal and vote tabulator; iii. the Election Official will take the ballot from the voter and put it face down, top first, into the printer attached to the vote tabulator and position a secrecy folder at the printer exit slot to receive the ballot as it is printed; iv. once the ballot has been put into the printer, the Election Official will provide the voter with the required components, as well as verbal instructions on how to operate the equipment. 3. To initiate the ballot, the Election Official will start the audio presentation for the accessible ballot by pressing the security key to the security keypad on the tabulator, select the “Audio Vote” option on the operator screen menu of the tabulator followed by the appropriate ballot type (ward and school support), in order to indicate the type of ballot that the voter is eligible to receive. 4. The audio ballot will start automatically, and once the voter has confirmed their selections and has indicated via the components that they wish to print their ballot, the printer will print the vote marks on the blank ballot (which will emerge from the printer into the secrecy folder). 5. The Election Official will then confirm the ballot has been initialed and insert the completed ballot into the vote tabulator where it will be tabulated, completing the accessible voting session. Clerks Note: While the accessible ballot marking function is being utilized, other ballots may be inserted into the tabulator and processed simultaneously. 6. If at any point an accessible voting session must be cancelled, the Election Official shall perform the following steps: i. press the security key to the security keypad, to display the operator screen menu; ii. press “Audio Vote” end session; iii. press “YES”. 7. The accessible voting session will be cancelled, and the voter shall be provided with the opportunity to recommence the process. No votes will be cast until a ballot containing the selections is printed and inserted in the tabulator. 8. Should there be any problems with the printer, it shall be unplugged and plugged back in. If problem persists, the Election Official shall contact the Clerk to have repairs undertaken or a new printer may be issued. 13 Procedure in the event a tabulator malfunctions during the voting process 1. In the event that a tabulator malfunctionsor fails to operate during the voting process and the memory card is still functional, it may be necessary for repairor replacement of the tabulator. The Election Official will contact the Clerk to advise of the equipment failure. If this is necessary, the preferred course of action will be to substitute the faulty equipment with a spare vote tabulator. 2. The auxiliary compartment of the ballot box will be utilized to insert and store the ballots. If the auxiliary compartment is used at any point in the day, at the close of voting, in the presence of all Election Officials, candidates and scrutineers present, the ballots will be removed from the auxiliary compartment and inserted into the vote tabulator. 3. In the event the tabulator cannot read ballots from the auxiliary compartment, the Election Official shall follow proceduresin accordancewith Section 11.4 to 11.7 4. Tabulator paper jams are rare but may occur. The tabulator uses image processing to check each ballot. If any jam has occurred, the machine will report a paper jam and the message on the operator screen will note if the results from the jammed ballot have been saved or not. 5. Election officials shall perform the following steps should a jam occur: (i) request that the voter remain at the ballot box; (ii) not look at the marks on the ballot; (iii) determine if the ballot is visible at either the front ballot entry slot or the rear ballot exit slot (the ballot is long enough that part of it will be visible at either end); (iv)if the ballot is visible from the front ballot entry slot and the message on the operator screen says, ‘Paper Jam, Results Not Saved’, pull the ballot out, press ‘CLEARED’ and re-insert the ballot into the tabulator; or (v) if the ballot is not visible from the front of the entry slot and the message on the operator screen says, ‘Paper Jam, Results Saved’, lift the tabulator off the ballot box to expose the back exit slot, and ensure the ballot is dropped into the box and follow the directions on the keypad in order to resume normal operation; 5. If a ballot is damaged and cannot be accepted by the tabulator, the Election Official shall procedures in accordance with Section 11.4 to 11.7. Clerks Note: At no time shall a voter be prevented from casting their ballot. If at any time, the tabulator is inoperable, for any reason, the voting process will not stop. The Election Official shall follow the procedures outlined below and utilize the auxiliary compartment: (i) open the auxiliary slot and insert ballots into the auxiliary compartment of the ballot box; (ii) once the tabulator becomes operational again or a replacement tabulator is operational, the auxiliary compartment shall be sealed against further use with the time and initials of the Election Official noted on the seal in addition to those of any candidates or scrutineers present; (iii) the seal shall remain intact until the close of voting unless the auxiliary compartment is required at another time throughout voting day at which time the seal will be broken in the presence of any candidates or scrutineers present; (iv) at the close of voting, prior to powering off the tabulator, and in the presence of the Election Officials and any candidates or scrutineers present, the Election Official shall remove any ballots from the auxiliary compartment and insert them into the ballot input slot of the working tabulator; (v) in the event the tabulator cannot read ballots from the auxiliary compartment, the Election Official shall follow procedures in accordance with Section 11.4 to 11.7. 6. The following steps shall be performed in order to replace the faulty equipment and resume the regular voting activities smoothly and quickly. Tabulator Replacement: 7. The Election Official shall remove the memory card from the malfunctioning tabulator and insert the memory card into the replacement tabulator. 8. The Election Official shall pack up the faulty equipment and set up the replacement vote tabulator. In an effort to expedite the replacement, the Election Official who delivered the replacement tabulator may assist in packing up the faulty equipment. 9. The Election Official shall turn on the replacement tabulator and proceed to print a re-start tape to verify the number of ballots processed to that point. No results are displayed on this tape. The Election Official shall then sign the re-start tape and leave the tape attached to replacement vote tabulator. The existing ballot box continues to be used to accept ballots that are to be fed through the replacement tabulator for the remainder of the day. 14 Procedure for Closing the Voting Place - Advance Votes Clerk’s Note: At the end of each advance voting day, the tabulators will be powered down and secured. On voting day, these tabulators will be secured at City Hall, where the results tapes will be processed by the tabulator in accordance with regular procedures at the close of voting (8 p.m.). 1. The Election Official shall, after the close of the first day of advance voting, check the auxiliary compartment for ballots to ensure all ballots have been processed. All ballots removed from the auxiliary compartment of the ballot box shall be processed through the vote tabulator. The Election Official shall immediately, look at the display on the vote tabulator and write down the number of ballots processed through the tabulator; and, (i) power offthe tabulator, unplug the vote tabulator, seal the ballot box and the ballot feed slot in the vote tabulator, and place it in the carrying case provided. Candidates or scrutineers may, if present, place their seal on the equipment and ballot box; and (ii) deliver the vote tabulator and other election supplies to the Clerk or a secure location designated by the Clerk. 2. On subsequent days of a continuous advance vote, the vote tabulator and other election supplies shall be brought to the advance polling place. The vote tabulator shall be plugged in, and the number of ballots cast on the display shall be verified with the number of ballots cast from the previous day’s count. The seals are to be removed on the ballot box and the vote tabulator, and voting is to resume. 3. Section 14, Procedure for Closing the Voting Place for Advance Votes, shall be followed where there are further days of continuous advance voting. 4. At the close of voting on the final day of an advance vote or a continuous advance vote, the Election Official shall: (i) check the auxiliary compartment of the ballot box for ballots to ensure all ballots have been processed; (ii) any ballots removed from the auxiliary compartment of the ballot box shall be processed through the vote tabulator; (iii) look at the display on the vote tabulator and write down the number of ballots processed. The number will later be recorded on the statement form; (iv) secure the vote tabulator against receiving any more ballots; (v) remove the memory card and place in the designated envelope along with the Zero Totals Report. The envelope will be closed, sealed, and signed by the appropriate Election Officials and any candidates or scrutineers (vi) power turn off the vote tabulator; (vii) seal the ballot box to ensure the box cannot be reopened without breaking the seal and to cover the ballot slot; (viii) deliver all ballot boxes, the vote tabulator, envelopes with memory card and other supplies to the Clerk. 5. The total of the votes cast at the advance vote shall not be made available until after 8 p.m. on voting day. 15 Procedure for Closing the Voting Place - Voting Day 1. The Election Official shall, after the close of the voting; (i) check the auxiliary compartment of the ballot box for ballots to ensure all ballots have been processed; (ii) any ballots removed from the auxiliary compartment of the ballot box shall be processed through the vote tabulator; (iii) look at the display on the vote tabulator and write down the number of ballots processed through the unit. The number will later be recorded on the statement form; (iv) secure the vote tabulator against receiving any more ballots by invoking the “Close Poll” procedure for the tabulator; (v) obtain a printed record of vote results given for each candidate and, if applicable, the votes given for and against a by-law or question and post it publicly in the polling location; (vi) sign the certificate portion of the printed record along with any candidates or scrutineers who are present and wish to sign; (vii) remove the Zero Totals Report and attached printed record of vote results from the vote tabulator and place them in the designated envelope; (viii) turn off the vote tabulator; (ix) seal the ballot box to ensure the box cannot be reopened without breaking the seal and to cover the ballot slot; (x) remove the memory card and place in the designated envelope along with the Zero Totals Report and printed record of votes. The envelopewill be closed, sealed, and signed by the Election Officials and candidates or scrutineers. The Election Official shall deliver all ballot boxes, the vote tabulator, bubble packs with memory card and other supplies to the Clerk. Clerk’s Note: to expedite the accumulation of total results, the Clerk may authorize other individuals to pick up the envelopes, including the Memory Card, at each voting location and deliver them to City Hall, while other Election Officials close the poll. 16 Procedure for Opening/Closing of Voting Place - Institutions and Retirement Homes 1. The Act permits the Clerk of a municipality to reduce the hours for voting at an institution and/or retirement home. The hours for voting on Voting Day for these facilities will be asfar as practicable; half of the facilities conducting the vote in the morning and the other half of the facilities in the afternoon. 2. All facilities will open and conduct the voting as per Section 11 of this procedure with appropriate modifications. Subsection 45(9) of the Act requiresthat an Election Official attend on an elector with a disability within the facility, in order to allow them to vote. A candidate or scrutineer may accompany the Election Official. 3. For institutions and/or retirement homes Election Officials will attend the voting location will all supplies to complete the voting process, including voters list, ballots, and ballot boxes. 4. A vote tabulator will not be provided at the Institution/Retirement Home locations. 5. All the ballots shall be deposited into the ballot box which will be securelyreturned City Hall by the Election Official to be counted by a vote tabulator in accordance with the Vote Tabulation Procedure – Institutions, Retirement Homes and Special Voting Locations. 6. The tallying of the votes from Institutions/Retirement Homes where the voting was held on Voting Day, shall not be made available until after 8 p.m. on voting day. 7. After 8 p.m. on Voting Day, in accordance with the Vote Tabulation Procedure – Institutions, Retirement Homes and Special Voting Locations, the tallying of the results of votes cast shall be produced with any candidates or scrutineers present. 17 Recounts 1. If a recount of votes is held, it will be held in accordance with Section 56 ofthe Act, the votes shall be counted in the same manner as the votes were counted on Voting Day. 2. All vote tabulators to be used in the recount shall be tested before the recount in the manner described in Section 9, Testing of the Vote Tabulator. 3. The Clerk shall attend the recount and bring the ballot boxes, vote tabulators, statement envelopes and all documents that, in the opinion of the Clerk, are relevant to the recount. 18 Election Results 18.1 Production of election results from the advance vote 1. At the designated location, a designated Election Official shall generate the Advance Voting, Institutions, Retirement Homes and Special Voting Locations resultsfor each tabulator and voting place by: (i.) closing the poll on the tabulator to produce the results tape; (a) the tabulator shall print two copies of the results tape; and (b) removing the memory card from the tabulator andinserting it into the Election Reporting system, that uploads the results to the City's website. 18.2 Production of election results from voting day 1.Election results will be generated from voting day by uploading the voting results from polling location memory cards to the Election Reporting system, that uploads the results to the City's website 19 Retention of election documents 1. The City Clerk shall retain and have access to the memory cards, ballots,results tapes, and other materials that were produced during the pre- and post-election period. The procedures described in this document are subject to change at the discretion of the Clerk if, in the opinion of the Clerk, such change is necessary or desirable for conducting the election. Legislated Services Elections Procedure Approval Date: Title: May 17, 2022 Vote Tabulation Procedure Revision Date: Institutions, Retirement Homes NA and Special Voting Locations 1 Purpose: To establish a procedure for the tabulation of ballots from institutions, retirement homes and special voting locations. 2 Applicability: This procedure applies to Election Officials designated by the City Clerk, electors, candidates and scrutineers in City of Kitchener municipal elections and by-elections that take place at institutions and retirement homes. This procedure deals only with tabulation of ballots from the facilities referred to above, not to any advance or voting day locations. 3 Authority Section 45(7) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 (MEA) requires voting places be provided at institutions (long-term care) and retirement homes on voting day. Section 12.1(1) of the MEA states that the City Clerk shall have regard to the needs of electors and candidates with disabilities. 4 Procedure: Voting places at institutions and retirement homes will be staffed by at least two Deputy Returning Officers (DROs). In accordance with Section 11 of the Procedure for the Use of Vote Tabulators, ballots from Institutions and Retirement Homes as well as Special Voting Locations are not cast through tabulators at the voting locations. Ballots from these locations will be processed through tabulators at Kitchener City Hall for tabulation to ensure consistent and accurate ballot counting. Tabulation of ballots from Institutions and Retirement Homes and Special Voting Locations The voting process is outlined in the Section 11 of the Procedure for the Use of Vote Tabulators. Modifications for the tabulation of ballots from these polling locations are as follows: (i) Each of these polling locations will have a unique memory card tested in accordance with the Procedure for the Use of Vote Tabulators, consistent with those at the Advance and Voting Day voting locations. (ii) The tabulation process for all locations will begin at 6:30 p.m. and occur until 8:00 p.m. This will help to expedite results tallying once the polls close. This process is open for only scrutineers or candidates to attend. (iii) The Election Official shall, a. place the appropriate memory cards for the voting location into the tabulator prior to powering the vote tabulator on; b. set up the vote tabulator to ensure the correct date and time are displayed, proceed to open poll, and print 2 zero tapes; c. open the ballot box for the voting location; d. insert the ballots from the ballot box into the vote tabulator; e. if ballots are returned, follow Section 11.4 to 11.7 of the Procedure for the Use of Vote Tabulators; f. once all ballots have been processed, complete the DROs statement and proceed to shut down the poll; g. power off the vote tabulator and remove the memory cards; h. place the memory cards into the appropriate envelope; i. place a seal over the envelope with a signature and date present; j. place sealed envelope into the secure transport container and, k. repeat steps for each applicable voting location. (iv) All envelopes will be given to the City Clerk, or designate, to indicate receipt. (v) The ballots from the following voting locations will be processed at approximately 6:30 p.m.* in the designated location: Ward Voting Location ADVANCE ADVANCE Ray of Hope ADVANCE A Better Tent City Grand River Hospital - 2 Freeport Campus Doon Village Retirement 4 Residence 5 The Westmount Lanark Heights Retirement 7 Centre 8 Highland Place 9 Conestoga Lodge 9 Millwood Manor 10 peopleCare A.R. Goudie 2 Briarfield Gardens 2 Fergus Place 7 Forest Heights Long Term Care Facility Chartwell Bankside 7 Retirement Residence 2 Sunnyside Home 6 The Village of Winston Park 3 Trinity Village Care Centre 9 Victoria Place Tallying of Results from Institutions and Retirement Homes and Special Voting Locations (vi) At 8:00 p.m. the Election Official shall, a. open all envelopes from Institutions, Retirement Homes and Special Voting Locations and insert the memory cards into the vote tabulator; b. open the poll and verify the ballots cast with the DROs statement; c. proceed to close the poll and print 2 result tapes; d. remove the memory cards and provide them to designated Election Officials-Technology and Innovative Services (TIS) staff for results display. Clerks note: Tabulation of ballots is a different process than results tallying. Results counting the votes. All Voting Day memory cards will be tallied for results in Council Chambers at 8:00 pm and is open for public viewing. No results from Institutions, Retirement Homes or Special Voting Location Polls will be released until after 8:00 p.m. on Monday, October 24, 2022. * The times described in this document are subject to change at the discretion of the Clerk with appropriate notification to candidates.