| (5) Count the ballot(s), either by hand counting or electronically, in the manner established for the election by the early voting clerk. (i) Duplicating e-mailed ballots. At the discretion of the central counting station manager, after acceptance by the early voting ballot board, an e-mailed ballot may be duplicated under procedures set out in §127.126, Texas Election Code. (j) Rejecting ballots. (1) If the applicant's FPCA and carrier envelope do not meet all the requirements outlined in subsection (f) of this section, the ballot must be rejected and may not be counted. (2) The rejected ballot should be processed by: (A) Writing the word "Rejected" on the carrier envelope; (B) Writing the word "Rejected" on the corresponding jacket envelope; (C) Placing the unopened carrier envelope containing the rejected ballot in the large envelope or container marked "Rejected Early Ballots"; (D) Having the presiding judge sign and seal the "Rejected Early Ballot" envelope. (3) The presiding judge must also write the date and nature of the election on the envelope. (4) A record must be kept of the number of rejected ballots placed in the "Rejected Early Ballot" envelope. (5) A notation must be made on the carrier envelope of any ballot which was rejected after the carrier envelope was opened, stating the reason the carrier envelope was opened and rejected. (6) The applicant's FPCA, signature sheet, and any other accompanying papers and affidavits must be placed in the jacket envelope. (7) The presiding judge of the board must forward a notice of the reason for the rejection to the e-mail address to which the ballot was originally transmitted in addition to the mailed notice of rejection to the applicant's residence address required under §87.0431, Texas Election Code. (k) Tracking balloting materials. MOVE requires each state to develop a tracking system FPCA applicants may access to determine if their voted ballot has been received back by the early voting clerk. The Office of the Secretary of State will create a military and overseas voter ballot tracking website, and each county will be required to submit specific FPCA application and ballot status data, which will populate the FPCA tracking website. (1) Submission of FPCA records. The early voting clerk must submit to the Office of the Secretary of State a voter record for each FPCA that is timely received for the November 2, 2010 general election. The three approved submission methods for submitting FPCA data are: (A) Voter Import Method. The voter import is a prescribed, standard format issued and supported by the Office of the Secretary of State in which data may be submitted in mass to update the Texas Election Administration Management System ("TEAM"). The early voting clerk may submit the voter import or may work in cooperation with the county voter registrar to submit the voter import. (B) TEAM Data Entry Method. The early voting clerk may directly input FPCA voters into the TEAM application. (C) Spreadsheet Submission Method. The early voting clerk may submit a spreadsheet which contains required data for all effective FPCA applicants. The spreadsheet format will be prescribed by the Office of the Secretary of State and sent to all counties by July 31, 2010, and will contain the following fields: (i) County name; (ii) Election name; (iii) Voter last name; (iv) Voter first name; (v) Voter former name, if any; (vi) Voter date of birth; (vii) Voter residential zip code; and (viii) FPCA status (military or spouse or dependent of military, U.S. citizen temporarily residing outside of U.S., or U.S. citizen indefinitely residing outside of U.S.). (2) Deadline to submit FPCA voter record. (A) Records for all FPCAs on file as of September 1, 2010 must be submitted to the Office of the Secretary of State no later than September 7, 2010. (B) Records for FPCAs that are submitted to the early voting clerk after September 1, 2010, must be submitted to the Office of the Secretary of State within 3 working days of receipt by the early voting clerk. (3) Submission of voted ballot status. The early voting clerk must submit to the Office of the Secretary of State the following information concerning the ballot status for each FPCA record: (A) Date ballot mailed, e-mailed or both; (B) Date ballot(s) received; if applicable; (C) Date ballot returned by the post office, if applicable; (D) Whether the ballot(s) received was accepted or rejected. (4) The early voting clerk may submit the ballot status data by one of the following three methods: (A) Voting History Import to TEAM. (B) Data entry directly into TEAM. (C) Updates to FPCA Spreadsheet. (5) Deadline to submit ballot status data. The early voting clerk must submit the ballot status information required under paragraph (3) of this subsection within 3 business days of the status change. |
