Mar 30 2006
The Back of the Ballot
One of the most disappointing problems on election day was hearing from voters who failed to turn their ballot over and vote on races or issues on the back side of the ballot. In each of the polling places I was in, judges were doing as they had been instructed and told voters about the back of the ballot. But I can certainly believe that out of 22,000 voters, some may not have been told, or failed to note that detail among the other things they are told when they receive their ballot.
The ballot itself, at the bottom of the third column, has this “Turn page for more possible races.” The word possible is put there because not all ballots continue to the back side.
In addition, we put a sign near the ballot box warning voters not to deposit their ballot if they feel there is an error on it or that they received the incorrect ballot.
Despite these safeguards, some voters have told me that they were not aware that there were races or issues on the back side of their ballot.
From a statistical point of view, in March 1994, when the last Unit 4 school referendum passed, 4.1% of voters did not vote on the bond referendum and 2.9% did not vote on the rate increase. This year, 3.7% of voters did not vote on the bond referendum. In the April 1993 election the two referenda had fall offs of 3.4% for the bonds and 4.4% for the rate increase. The fall off this year does not appear to be abnormally high, but if any of the 3.7% of voters would have voted on the referendum but didn’t realize it was on the ballot, it is too many and we should look for ways to address it. Of course, like in any race, most of the fall off probably is a result of voters making a choice not to vote on an issue. For example, in the Democratic Primary for Governor, in the first position on the front of the ballot, 6.5% of voters did not cast a vote.
Here are some ideas we have already come up with to make voters more aware of the back side of the ballot.
1. Make the instructions about the back of the ballot larger and perhaps
put them at the top of the ballot as well.
2. Put instructions about the back of the ballot in the polling booth.
3. Put the instructions about the back of the ballot on the privacy cover.
4. Move the location of the warning sign about errors on the ballot from behind
the ballot box (where it was by necessity in the punch card days) and put it
on the front of the ballot box.
5. Continue to tell our judges to warn about the back of the ballot.
Some suggestions are not possible. The software that runs the ballot tabulator cannot be adjusted to reject ballots that are blank on the back side. It can be adjusted to reject some undervotes, but we believe that will infringe on the privacy of the people who decide not to vote on some issues. Going with a longer ballot with all the information on the front is also not feasible as it would require a totally different printer for absentee voting and would raise our expenses for paper and printing. Even if we had a longer ballot this election, all of Champaign Township would have needed a back side of the ballot to hold the five or six referenda to be voted on.
I want to hear suggestions from others in the community. Post them here, write our office, or call us.
In my precinct the judges did not say anything about looking on the back. I thought I was finished voting and was about to leave the booth when I realized I had not voted on the school bond referendum and turned the ballot over. When I came out I mentioned to the judges that I almost didn’t see the back and they should be sure to mention to people to look on the back when they handed out the ballots. They seemed very defensive and said it was printed right on the front — which it was, but not prominently. I think more emphasis to the judges to tell people, and putting the caution in more noticeable font should solve the problem. Also, as people get used to these ballots they will know to look on the back automatically. I know I won’t have the problem in the future.
In my precinct judges did not say anything early on about the flip side but did so later in the day.
I suspect that in a busier election season it wouldn’t have been an issue because the front and back would have been more filled, but still, *clear* instructions at the bottom of the first page to flip over would be very helpful.
As another County Clerk who has used optical scan ballots since the primary of 2004. The problems being discuss here are the same problems that Macon County and other counties have faced. We had the same problem with voters not going through all the ballot pages.
The only solution is that a touchscreen DRE voting device makes you go through the complete ballot. Election judges faced a difficult day with the weather and a lot of new equipment and laws to deal with.
Here’s hoping that we all learn from the primary and have a great general election
Mark, could you have an oval on the back of the ballot that says “I voted” (entered into the machine as a fake race) and program the machine to reject undervotes in that race? That would at require voters to acknowledge that they’d seen the back of the ballot without making them vote in a real race.