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GAINES TOWNSHIP MI MEMO, 09/14/2020 - PG 60:

Re: Election Software

The Elections Department would like to pursue the purchase of EMS Adjudication Software to be used by AV Board (processes absentee ballots).

Adjudication is the process of resolving flagged cast ballots to reflect voter intent. Common reasons a ballot is flagged for (out-stacked): When ·

Write-ins Overvotes Marginal machine-readable mark(s) Having no selections marked on the entire ballot The ballot is unreadable by a scanner

adjudication software is being utilized, ballots with conditions are automatically sent to the adjudication · · · · application for digital ballot review. The purpose is to determine the intent of the voter. Ballot changes always preserve the voter’s original intent. Anyone reviewing a ballot will be able to see how the voter marked their ballot, how the scanner interpreted the intent, and how the ballot was adjudicated. For example, a voter uses a check mark rather than filling the circle in. The software will determine the intent of the voter (i.e. the voter intended to vote where the check marks are). Currently, if a ballot is rejected it must be reviewed by a team of workers (one republican and one democrat), who must determine if they can ascertain the voter’s intent. If they can, they must then duplicate the ballot and run the duplicated ballot thru the scanner. NOTE – if the voter’s intent cannot be determined, the ballot is rejected.

The adjudication software will greatly reduce the time it takes to process flagged ballots, and also automatically create the records required for processing these ballots. The cost of the software is $9,443.00. However, there is an opportunity to get a grant that would pay 50% of the cost. The Clerk’s Department would like to add this software purchase to our projected 2021 Elections budget, making the actual purchase contingent on receiving the grant. If we are successful in obtaining the software at 1⁄2 price, the annual maintenance fee would be $900, and we would also need to purchase a computer and monitor for the software, at an approximate cost of $1,300

"and also automatically create the records required for processing these ballots"

Except when you erase those records.