If [Ballot Status] = "Issued," Then [Ballot Receipt Date] = (must be blank). EPEC Senior Analyst Rick Naigle explains why this matters to accurate results in elections.
One of the sentences may be a bit confusing. We talked about ballots in Approved and Issued Status. Approved Status is associated with requesting a ballot. The application (request for a ballot) must be approved before a ballot will be provided (Issued).
To clarify:
Approval is the first step in the voting process. Voters submit an application to vote. All voting applications must be "approved" before a ballot can be issued.
The next step is voting. The registrar provides a ballot to the voter, CONDITIONAL on the application to vote having been approved.
The voter marks the ballot and returns it to the registrar. The registrar acknowledges custody by making an entry in the "Ballot Receipt Date" field, and then updates the ballot status from Issued to one of the received Status entries, thereby showing the current status of the ballot - is it countable, does it need cure, or was it received too late to be counted.
If the ballot is Issues, it should be still "out" ... the voter should be in possession of the ballot, not an election official.
One of the sentences may be a bit confusing. We talked about ballots in Approved and Issued Status. Approved Status is associated with requesting a ballot. The application (request for a ballot) must be approved before a ballot will be provided (Issued).
To clarify:
Approval is the first step in the voting process. Voters submit an application to vote. All voting applications must be "approved" before a ballot can be issued.
The next step is voting. The registrar provides a ballot to the voter, CONDITIONAL on the application to vote having been approved.
The voter marks the ballot and returns it to the registrar. The registrar acknowledges custody by making an entry in the "Ballot Receipt Date" field, and then updates the ballot status from Issued to one of the received Status entries, thereby showing the current status of the ballot - is it countable, does it need cure, or was it received too late to be counted.
If the ballot is Issues, it should be still "out" ... the voter should be in possession of the ballot, not an election official.