Day 6 - How does TallyJ’s "Front Desk Registration" work?

At an election, it is very important to know who is voting!

Once the ballots have been deposited, and the tallying begins, each ballot and its contents are totally anonymous, and cannot be tracked back to the person who voted.

However, as the ballots are being received, the tellers must be diligent in ensuring that each ballot is being cast by an eligible person.

To that end, tellers typically sit at a table with printed copies of the community list, marking off the name of each person who is submitting a ballot. This can often be a confusing time, as it may be hard to match the person to their printed name - for instance, for someone recently married, or who uses a different name from what is on the list. To complicate this further, the person standing at the table may also be dropping off ballots for someone else, and their names must be found and verified as well. If this process takes place in the middle of the meeting, it may be disruptive and time-consuming. And then, all those copies of the list must be cross-checked and counted!

With TallyJ, this problem is addressed with the Front Desk Registration screen. Here is a sample, as shown on Day 4:

When TallyJ is being used, people arriving at the meeting room are asked to immediately "register" or "check in" at the teller's table to record their presence.

If they intend to be present when the ballots are being accepted during the election itself, then the "In Person" button is clicked next to their name. If they are just dropping off their ballot and leaving immediately, or if they are dropping off ballots for a friend, then the "Dropped Off" button is clicked next to the name, and each ballot envelope is deposited into a ballot box. In a similar manner, all ballots that were mailed in would be examined and also entered into the Front Desk screen, either before the meeting or while others are being registered.

Any number of computers can be used for this purpose at the same time. This makes it possible to have tellers stationed by each main entrance, and/or have multiple tellers with computers at the table(s) to process people more quickly. When the button beside a person's name is clicked on one computer, the same button is automatically set on all the other computers within a few seconds.

When the tellers later retire to start tallying the votes, the first step is to verify that all the ballots are properly accounted for. To that end, the Reconcile Ballot Counts screen is used:

The physical ballots are counted to ensure that they are all there. If there are discrepancies, those must be worked out before the ballots are opened. This screen can also help with that, by showing the names of each person who has voted, along with the time they were registered, and even the name of the teller who was using the computer at the time. With those clues, tellers should be able to remember what happened, and resolve any issues quickly.

To better track the ballots before they are opened, TallyJ supports an optional feature where dropped off and mailed in ballots can be marked with an "envelope number". (You can see a number beside Paul and Karla in the top image.) The system makes that number for each such ballot, and if desired, tellers can put that number onto each envelope. This could be done by writing the number on a sticky note, and sticking it to the envelope. Once the reconciliation is complete, before the envelopes are opened, the sticky notes can be removed and discarded. Again, attaching the envelope number to these ballots is optional, and does not need to be done. However, if it is done, a few more options are available, such as: (1) Someone who dropped off their ballot returns a few minutes later to say that they've changed their mind, and intend to stay for the election. Their ballot can be found by the envelope number, and returned to them - and their registration changed to "In Person". (2) Someone who mailed in their ballot shows up and wishes to participate in the election. Again, their envelope can be found and given to them - and their registration changed to "In Person". Without using the envelope numbers, these scenarios would not be possible. It is up to the head teller to decide whether using the envelope numbers is worth the effort!

Conclusions

• Everyone is registered before the meeting starts, so there is no disruption during the election itself. (However, teller stations can remain open by the entrance doors for late comers to be registered, all they way up until the tellers retire to start tallying the votes.)

• All the registrations are done with TallyJ, so there are no paper lists to be counted and cross-checked.

• We have an accurate count of everyone present and planning to vote, so we can then use the Roll Call screen to invite each person forward to deposit their ballot! But that's a story for another day...

Next day >>>