How it works, step by step

01Before the ballots are printed

Ballot Buddy calculates how many ballots each polling location needs, working from turnout at comparable past elections and adjusting for state law and Secretary of State guidance.

Your officials review every figure and change what local knowledge says to change. The confirmed quantities become part of the election record.

Polling locations, precincts and ballot styles are either entered directly or imported from your voter registration database. For elections you run again and again, a template holds the ballot styles and precinct assignments so the setup is not rebuilt each time.

02Printing

Ballot Buddy produces the print files and the matching data file your printer needs. Ballots are proofed before the run, and a test deck is produced for testing.

Each pack is labeled as it comes off the press. The label names the election, the ballot style, the precinct, the polling location and the count inside, in plain words and as a barcode.

03Packing and sealing

Officials pick a polling location and the screen shows what belongs in its containers. Each pack is scanned against that list, and anything missing or unexpected stops the sign-off until it is resolved.

The container is closed with a tamper-evident seal from your supplier. Its number is recorded by scan or typed in, and tied to that container. Both officials sign, and the container is marked ready to go.

04The forms

The chain-of-custody form prints with the seal number, the expected ballots and the signature lines already on it. Print them all at once after packing, or one at a time when something changes late.

Back-up copies print whenever you want them. Nothing on Election Day depends on a phone working.

05Getting to the polling place

Either your poll workers collect from a distribution point, where their identity and location are checked and the containers are scanned against the manifest, or your officials deliver.

Both ways end the same: two signatures and a time, on the record.

06Election morning

Before the polls open, officials check the seals for damage and check the numbers against the ones printed on the form. Everyone present signs alongside the official opening time.

Only then are the seals broken.

07Coming back

At the return, the seal is examined, the container is scanned against what it was packed with, and the receiving official and the person who carried it both sign.

A seal number that does not match, or a container that is not what the manifest says, stops the sign-off and is flagged for someone to look at.

08After the election

The paper forms are scanned back in. A code printed on each one matches it to the right container, and the seal numbers written on paper are checked against the ones recorded during the election.

Reports export as PDF for records requests, recounts and audits, covering the whole election, one polling location, or one span of time. A jurisdiction that wants to can publish approved reports online for the public to read.

09Retention

Ballot Buddy flags when the retention period is over and the ballots may be destroyed, unless there is litigation pending.

10Ways to run it

Run it in house. Integrate it with your print vendor. Bring us in to consult, or hand us the whole election service.

The chain can begin at the ballot order, at the press or at packing, whichever suits your office.