Not filling out the entire ballot could lead machines to ask if you're sure

Roland Beres was an anchor in Boise in the '90s. He spent ten years at a station in Madison, Wisconsin, and returned to Boise in 2011 to work for KIVI.

BOISE, Idaho — Ballot readers can kick back ballots if entire sections are left unused — so if you plan to pass up multiple races, be prepared for the machines to ask you if you're sure.

(Below is the transcript of the broadcast story.)

The ballot this election is a long one, and that could cause some issues that you, the voter, should be aware of. I’m senior reporter Roland Beres and the long ballot naturally takes longer to fill out, but if you skip a bunch of the down ballot races, be prepared for the voting machines to ask you if you’re sure.

If you vote only for the major races like the president and ignore the lesser races, it’s possible to bypass an entire sheet of the ballot — but the voting machines in Ada County will take notice of that.

“Our machines are programmed to make sure that the voter understands that they’re submitting a blank page into the ballot machine. And so it kicks it back out and it’s confusing some voters in early voting,” said Ada County Clerk Trent Tripple.

Tripple says the machines are just making sure no one accidentally forgot to fill out a whole page.

If you did it on purpose, it’s easy to complete the ballot.

“If you’re okay with it, push the button and it accepts the ballot,” said Tripple.

Tripple says another minor issue has to do with ballots not being inserted straight because voters are using just one hand while holding the other page of the ballot in their other hand.

“If it kicks it back out, just be patient with us, put it back in,“ said Tripple.

Bottom line, clerks like Tripple say they want to make sure there are no surprises for voters on Election Day, and early voting is a great way to test the system ahead of time.