Author: Karen Brinson Bell, Executive Director
As we approach the final days of one-stop early voting, all counties need to ensure that the following procedures are followed at the close of early voting. Additionally, with an expected increase in turnout, counties with ES&S DS200 tabulators and Hart InterCivic Verity Scan tabulators may reach the memory capacity of these units and need to follow the steps identified below.
End of Early Voting
As we learned during the Congressional District 9 hearing, the printing of results tapes at the end of early voting may have negative ramifications and affect the outcome of an election. Results tapes may not be printed at the end of early voting. One-stop workers should simply turn off the tabulators as they have the other days of early voting, follow reconciliation, security, and chain of custody procedures, and return materials to the county elections office per county instruction. Results tapes should be printed on Election Day at the absentee board meeting, then secured along with any media containing results. Results may not be shared or released until 7:30 p.m. on election night.1
1 G.S. § 163-234 provides for the secrecy of results until Election Day, and prohibits the board from announcing any results prior to the close of the polls at 7:30 p.m.
High-Volume One-Stop Sites
Because the DS200 and Verity Scan are digital scanners, the USB flash drives/keys used in these units may reach memory capacity when approximately 10,000 ballots have been scanned into a unit. [Note: The capacity varies depending on the length of the ballot, the size of the USB drive, and number of sides to a ballot.] This is not an issue with the PCMCIA cards used in M100s.
Counties nearing memory capacity should deploy a tested, spare tabulator for use at the polling place if their current tabulator is approaching capacity. Once the flash drive/key has reached capacity, you cannot insert additional ballots, but the unit may be turned off and procedures followed for closing of the polls at the appropriate time. If you do not have a sufficient supply of tabulators, please contact Voting Systems (votingsystems.sboe@ncsbe.gov) for alternative methods. Please also contact Voting Systems about steps for reading the flash drive/keys into the tabulation software as the process may vary depending on which tabulation software is used by your county.
↓ One-Stop Closing Procedures and Voting Systems: Numbered Memo 2020-08 (PDF)