“Voter Please Remove And Discard Stub:” What? Why?

— by Lin McNulty —

If you have voted, did you remove and discard that ballot stub as instructed? Or did you not remove and discard it and now you’re afraid your vote won’t count? What’s that for, anyway? And who will know if you don’t discard it?

Not to worry so much. The Auditor’s Office tells us that ballot stub contains a 2D (data matrix) barcode on the stub. This barcode is used to create a one-to-one match with the correct return envelope, ensuring the voter receives the correct ballot.

The full breakdown in the barcode is: County code, card, category, language, party, precinct, extract, sequence#, file#

• County Code= The number assigned to identify your county. Your number is 13
• Card= The ballot card number. This will always be 1 unless you have a multi-card election
• Category= The number assigned to the category.
• Language= code to identify the ballot language. English is 1
• Party= Will always be 11 to identify non-partisan since we do not have separate party ballots
• Precinct= Your precinct number
• Extract= Your main extract is called 50 and fixtracts are 70 or 71
• Sequence#= The sequential 1-end number within your voter extract after presort.
• File#= The number assigned to the roll of paper that the ballot is printed on.

The return envelopes have a 2D barcode as well. That barcode contains the sequence# and file# to match up with the correct ballot. Once the voter removes the stub, there is nothing that ties that ballot to that voter.

The ballot is counted whether the voter removes the stub or not. When a ballot with a stub attached is extracted from the return envelope by the ballot processing board, the board member removes the stub and discards it. The stub must be removed so the ballot can be scanned.

It is up to the voter on how they wish to discard the stub. The Auditor’s Office usually instructs voters to shred it with other recyclables.

This may all be more than you wanted to know about your ballot. But if this was keeping you awake at night, you may now rest comfortably, assured that your vote does count. So be sure to Vote!