2018 Municipal Election Logic & Accuracy Testing Procedure

Transcription

1 2018 Municipal Election Logic & Accuracy Testing Procedure 1. Purpose: 1.1. To develop a procedure for logic and accuracy testing of tabulators to be used in the 2018 municipal and school board elections in the City of Oshawa Pursuant to Section 12 (1) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, a clerk who is responsible for conducting an election may provide for any matter or procedure that is not otherwise provided for in an Act or regulation; and in the clerk s opinion, is necessary or desirable for conducting the election. 2. Assumptions: 2.1. The Clerk will oversee the testing process, to occur at the City s Consolidated Operations Depot at 199 Wentworth Street East Oshawa, or other location determined by the Clerk All tabulators and accessible voting equipment assistive devices to be used in the 2018 municipal and school board elections will be tested Memory cards used for tabulators and accessible voting equipment will be pre-programmed with the list of certified Candidates provided to the election equipment vendor by the Clerk Expected results will be verified against the actual results using the tabulator s results tape If the results do not match, the tabulator will be re-configured and tested again until the results are accurate If it appears there is a technical issue with the tabulator or accessible voting equipment, the tabulator vendor will be contacted with the intent of resolving issues or for the purpose of obtaining a replacement tabulator. Replacement tabulators will be tested per Section 2.2 and In keeping with the Procedures for Voting and the Use of Vote Counting Equipment, programming logic provides that: 2.8. Assumption tabulators set up for assigned Voting Places/Wards before testing begins Tabulators will accept properly market ballots (i.e., the oval to the right of the Candidate s name is filled in using the pen provided to the voter); Tabulators will return blank ballots (i.e., none of the ovals to the right of the Candidate s name is filled in using the pen provided to the voter);

2 Tabulators will return ballots missing Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) initials; Tabulators will accept under-voted ballots (i.e., one or more properly marked Contests will assume the voters intent is to leave any unmarked Contests blank); Tabulators will return over-voted ballots (i.e., more than one mark is made on a single Contest); Tabulators will return an unreadable ballot (i.e., a mark is made on the timing marks of the ballot, affecting the ability to interpret which Ballot Face is being cast); and, Tabulators will return an ambiguously marked ballot (i.e., the mark made in the voting area is too small to be read by the tabulator). Given programming logic, it is only necessary to test one ambiguous mark in each on each Ballot Face) A record of the logic and accuracy testing will be kept on file by City Clerk Services, together with the ballots used for testing Candidates will be provided with a summary of the logic and accuracy testing undertaken by way of a candidate newsletter distributed by Definitions: 3.1. Ballot Face refers to the five (5) different types of ballots to be used in each Ward: (1) Durham District School Board (English Public), (2) Durham Catholic District School Board (English Catholic), Conseil scolaire Viamonde (French Public) and (4) Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir (French Separate), (5) No School Support (used for non-resident owners or tenants of property or the spouse of a non-resident owner or tenant of property in the City of Oshawa) Candidate refers to an individual, certified Candidate for a Contest Clerk refers to the City Clerk of Oshawa or their designate Contest refers to the offices to be elected, including: Regional Chair, Mayor, Regional and City Councillor, City Councillor, and School Board Trustee Ward refers to the five (5) electoral districts within the City of Oshawa. 4. Test Decks: 4.1. Test decks of ballots will be prepared in advance to run through the tabulators. The expected results based on what is marked on the test deck ballots will be documented prior to the tests being completed and the final results will be checked against the expected results to ensure accuracy There will be a test deck created for each Ward in each Ballot Face to include: One properly marked ballot for each Candidate; One blank ballot; 2

3 One ballot missing DRO initials; One under-voted Contest. Given programming logic, it is only necessary to test one Contest on each Ballot Face; One over-voted ballot in each Contest. Given programming logic, it is only necessary to test one combination of over-voted Candidates in each Contest; One unreadable ballot; and, One ambiguously marked ballot. 5. Tabulator Testing Procedure: 5.1. Note expected results for each tabulator Set the tabulator on a table surface. For the purposes of testing, tabulators are not required to be placed on a ballot box Insert two programmed memory cards in the marked slots Plug in the power cord for the tabulator Wait while the tabulator starts up and then when prompted, place and hold the security key to the security receptacle until you are prompted for a password Enter the password provided and press ENTER When prompted confirm the local date and time and adjust if necessary. The tabulator will proceed through a series of self-diagnostic tests until it stops on the Administrative Menu From the Administrative Menu, press OPEN THE POLL, and print a ZERO report tape. Leave the tape attached to the tabulator. When prompted to print an additional tape, press NO Check the zero report tape to verify that the correct Ward is listed and the total votes cast for every candidate is ZERO Once the operator screen says SYSTEM READY, test decks can be run through each tabulator Once the test deck has been completely fed into the tabulator, press CLOSE THE POLL, enter the password and print the RESULTS TAPE. 6. Check and Verify the Results: 6.1. Verify the expected results noted against the results tape to ensure they match. If the results do not match, the process in Section 5 will be repeated again If the expected results and results tape match, the Clerk will sign and staple the results tape to the expected results noted to be kept on file. 3

4 7. Setting Results back to Zero: 7.1. Once the test deck has been completed and the results have been verified, the tabulator must be set back to ZERO Hold the security key to the security key receptacle From the main menu, select CLOSE POLL and enter the password. The tabulator will generate a results tape Now that the poll is closed, from the main menu press UTILITIES and select RE-ZERO. Enter the password provided and press ENTER Confirm the ballot count at the bottom of the screen is Press the POWER DOWN option Press YES when prompted Are you certain you wish to shut down? Wait until the LCD screen turns off and then unplug the unit from the power source The process in Section 5 is repeated for all tabulators With the exception of one advance voting tabulator used in the process in Section 8, all tabulators will be sealed, labelled and secured by the Clerk for deployment during the election. 8. Testing Assistive Devices 8.1. Accessible voting equipment assistive devices (paddles, sip/puff appliances, headphones) will be tested to ensure the ballot marking device produces the following for each Ward in each Ballot Face: One properly marked ballot for each Candidate; One blank ballot; and, One under-voted Contest. Given programming logic, it is only necessary to test one Contest on each Ballot Face. Given programming logic and ballot marking functionality, over-voted, unreadable and ambiguously marked ballots are not possible Once Section 8.1 has been completed, each ballot is marked with DRO initials, expected results are noted All ballots are processed through the advanced voting tabulator referenced in Section 7.10 following steps outlined in Sections 5.4 through

5 8.4. The advance voting tabulator is sealed, labelled and secured by the Clerk for deployment during the election Assistive devices are packed up, labelled and secured by the Clerk for deployment during the election. 5