Model 650Election Day Checklist
Preparing
the Scanner
1.
Ensure that the scanner is OFF.
2.
Rub your finger across the
surface of the pick belt. In one
direction it will feel smooth and the other rough. You must ensure that the rough edge is
positioned to make contact with the ballots. Loop the pick belt around
the left-side roller first and then around the right-side roller until it fits
into place.
3.
Line up the output hopper
slide with its corresponding slot located on the left side of the scanner.
4.
Slide the hopper down making
sure that the top edge of the hopper is below the feed path.
5.
Adjust the length of the
output hopper to match the length of the ballots being used for the election.
6.
Ensure the printers have sufficient paper loaded
into them.
7.
Plug the scanner and both printers into a power
strip.
8.
Plug the power strip into an
outlet.
9.
Insert the zip disk with the election definition into the zip
drive.
10. Turn the scanner on. The power switch is located on the lower left
side of the scanner. This message will
appear once the scanner has initialized:
“Press Stop to Keep
XXXXX(name of election currently in the machine).
“Press Start to Load
XXXXX (Zip) (name of election on the zip disk)”
11. 
Press START to load the new election definition in to the scanner. The
following message is displayed:
“Confirm:
Initialize Election?”
“Press Stop to cancel, Start
to continue.”
12. Press START. If there were
election totals saved to the election definition Zip disk, the M650 will
automatically load them as well. If this is the case, this message will be
displayed:
“Totals
Present in Database”
“Zero Totals or Press Start
to continue”
**If you did not receive this message,
proceed to step #15.
13. Simultaneously press the ENABLE
and ZERO TOTALS buttons. The following message will appear:
“Confirm: Zero Totals?”
“Press Stop to cancel, Start
to continue”
14. Press Start.
15. “Ready for
regular counting” will appear, the READY
light will come on and the report format will set itself to SHORT.
16. Check the scanner’s printout (the Machine Readiness
Report) for the correct jurisdiction and date and type of election. Check the accuracy of the Checking Program
Configuration section, the Checking Election Options section, and the Checking
Hardware Configuration section. Contact
ES&S Customer Service at 1-877-377-VOTE (8683) immediately if any of the
printed information is incorrect.
17. Remove the election
definition zip disk and store it in accordance with the election staff’s
procedures.
18. If the ONLINE lamp is not lit on the front of the scanner, press SELECT until the light comes on.
19. Press the FORMAT button in the REPORTS area of the control panel so
that LONG lights up.
20. To print both a GRAND TOTALS and a TOTALS BY PRECINCT report, simply press the button to the left of GRAND TOTALS and after the printer
stops, press the button to the left of the TOTALS
BY PRECINCT. Make sure that the
paper does not feed itself back into the back of the printer.
21. Check that the reports show
that no votes are present in the scanner.
22. If the totals are not
set to zero, try zeroing the scanner again by performing steps 13 & 14.
If the problem persists, contact ES&S Customer Service at 1-877-377-VOTE
(8683).
23. Set the appropriate SORT
options by pressing BLANK, OVERVOTE,
SPECIAL, and/or WRITE-IN. The word, “ON” will light up. The
election staff decides which of these ballots to sort for and what to do when
the scanner identifies one of them.
Scanning Ballots
24. While facing the scanner,
place uncounted ballots on a table to the right of the scanner.
25. Gently, press the input
hopper tray down until it locks in its DOWN position.
26. Correctly orient the ballots
so that they are facing up with the cut in the top right corner.
27. “Jog” the ballots by gently shuffling them until the
pages separate. Doing this helps keep
the ballots from sticking together and reduces paper jams in the scanner.
28. Place the ballots on the
input hopper tray so that the ballots are facing up with the cut corner sitting
on top of the retard pad.
29. Tap the ballots lightly until they are flush against
the two metal sides of the input hopper.
30. Gently press the input
hopper down and release it so that it rises up even to the feed area.
31. Extend the metal arm on the
right side of the input hopper tray to match the length of the ballots.
32. Adjust the white finger
guide so that it rests approximately one dime’s width from the edge of the
stack of ballots.
33. Press START to scan ballots. The scanner
will stop when the input hopper tray is empty or when it finds a ballot that
meets the scanner’s selected sort options.
34. Press STOP to stop scanning if required.
35. Empty the output hopper each time the scanner stops.
36. Place the counted ballots on
a table to the left of the scanner.
NEVER PLACE COUNTED BALLOTS IN THE SAME AREA (e.g., TABLE) AS UNCOUNTED
BALLOTS.
Handling Sorted Ballots
NOTE: When the scanner detects a ballot that meets
the scanner’s selected SORT options, it will stop. The top ballot is the one in question. After
receiving instructions from the customer regarding the ballot’s disposition,
the BLANK, OVERVOTE and/or SPECIAL ballots must be re-scanned because the
scanner did not count these ballots on the first pass.
Do not rescan WRITE-IN
ballots. The scanner counts WRITE-IN
ballots on the first pass.
37. Remove the sorted ballot and handle it in accordance
with established procedures.
38. Disable the sort functions
by pressing the OVERVOTE, BLANK, and/or SPECIAL buttons. The
corresponding lights will go out.
39. Scan the OVERVOTE, BLANK, and/or SPECIAL ballots.
40. Before scanning more ballots, re-enable the sort
functions by pressing
the OVERVOTE, BLANK, and/or SPECIAL buttons. An “ON”
will appear to the right of the button.
Saving Results
41. Periodically save results to the scanner’s internal
hard drive by pressing SAVE. A
message confirming the number of ballots scanned, saved, and sorted, will be
displayed. A good practice would be to
press SAVE each time the scanner’s input hopper goes
empty. Ballots can then be removed from the output hopper and placed aside with
a slip sheet on top to indicate the point of the last save.
42. To save results externally
and transfer results to a personal computer for result reporting, insert a zip
disk into the disk drive.
43. Simultaneously press ENABLE and SAVE. The following message
is displayed:
“Confirm: Save totals to transfer disk”
“Press Stop to cancel, Start to continue”
44. Press Start. When the
scanner is finished storing results to the disk, the message, “Totals copied to transfer disk” will
appear.
**NOTE: If ballots have been scanned that have not been
saved to the internal hard drive, the scanner will indicate “Mixed
tabulation in progress” and prompt you to first press SAVE to save the results to the internal drive before saving them
to a zip disk.
45. Save results as often as required by election staff
procedures.
46. After the scanner notifies
you that it is finished storing results, remove the disk and label it with the
date, time, election title, disk number and scanner number. Placing a slip
sheet in the processed ballots to indicate the last external save, is also a
good idea
Adding Votes to the Scanner
NOTE: If there is a power failure, results from
ballots scanned since the last save to the internal hard drive will be
lost. Those ballots will need to be scanned again. If you are not completely
sure which ballots need to be re-scanned, you may need to start back at the
point of the last save to the external zip disk. This point should be
accurately documented with your zip disk as well as your processed ballots.
Another instance may be if you mistakenly zero the totals on a scanner. Perform
Steps 47 -53 to reload the scanner with the last totals saved to a Zip disk.
47. Simultaneously press the ENABLE and ZERO
TOTALS buttons. The following message will appear:
“Confirm: Zero Totals?”
“Press Stop to cancel, Start
to continue”
48. Press Start.
49. “Ready for
regular counting” will appear, the READY
light will come on and the report format will set itself to SHORT.
50. Insert the disk into the
disk drive.
51. Press ENABLE and IMPORT TOTALS
at the same time.
“Totals from Transfer disk added
to system” will appear when complete.
52. When all totals have been successfully added to the scanner,
the READY indicator will light.
53. Remove the disk from the
scanner.
Printing Reports
54.
Press the FORMAT button until the appropriate format, LONG or SHORT, is displayed.
55.
Press the button
corresponding to the desired report, GRAND
TOTALS, PRECINCTS PROCESSED, TOTALS BY PRECINCT, or LAST PRECINCT.
Operating
in Absentee Mode
**The scanner’s election
definition must be programmed to allow absentee mode functions.**
NOTE: Use the scanner’s Absentee Mode to scan
absentee ballots separately. The scanner saves the totals for the ballots it
scans in this mode in duplicate absentee Precincts. All ballots will be added
to the absentee precincts until the absentee mode button is pressed again.
56.
Press ABSENTEE MODE on the control panel. The message, “READY FOR ABSENTEE COUNTING” appears in the display screen and the
green ABSENTEE MODE illuminates.
57.
Scan the absentee ballots.
58.
After scanning the absentee
ballots, press ABSENTEE MODE again to return to the regular scanning
mode. The message, “READY FOR REGULAR COUNTING” will appear.
**Note:
All reports
combine absentee and regular totals, unless you hold down the Enable
button when pressing the desired report button. If you use the enable
button while the absentee mode is on, reports will show results for “Absentee
Ballots Only.” If you use the enable button while the absentee mode is off,
reports will show results for “Regular Ballots Only.”
Flushing Precinct Totals
NOTE: Perform Steps 59 -61 to remove or “flush” the
totals from a precinct(s) from the scanner’s memory. This may be necessary if ballots are
accidentally scanned twice, if the wrong Precinct Ballot header was used, or if
ballots from Election Day were accidentally scanned in ABSENTEE MODE.
Call ES&S Customer
Service at 1-877-377-VOTE (8683) for instructions/assistance before flushing
election totals.
59.
Scan a flush header through the scanner. This places the scanner in flush mode. The message, “Scan ballot or header for precinct to flush” appears in the display.
60.
Scan one ballot or header from the precinct you wish
to flush through the scanner. The
message is displayed:
“Confirm flush for Precinct # “
“Re-scan
Ballot or Header if Correct”
61.
You must rescan the precinct ballot or header again to remove the precinct’s totals
from the scanner. After the ballot or
header is scanned a second time, the message, “Precinct Flush Complete” appears.
The precinct’s totals are now flushed and the scanner has returned to
its regular scanning mode. Press Stop if desired, to clear the message.
After You Have Finished Scanning All Ballots
62.
Save any unsaved results to
zip disk.
63.
DO NOT zero the totals.
64.
Power off the scanner and
the power switch on the power strip.
65.
Unplug the scanner and the printers from the power
strip.
66.
Disconnect the printers from the scanner.
67.
Remove the output hopper.
68.
Remove the pick belt.
69.
Leave the input hopper in
its unlatched, UP position.
70.
Cover the scanner with its dusk cover.