Program installation From the download page: http://www.conferencevoting.com/download.htm, choose the first option: Right click on the downloaded file and choose Extract. If installing to another computer, extract the files to a flash drive. From the extracted folder, click on Setup which will load the installer program: Select each step in order: Step 1 Load driver. This should be done before you plug in the scanner in most cases. Follow the prompts on the screen to load the correct driver. Step 2 Load program. This will launch the installation of the Scan2015 program. Follow the prompts on the screen to install the program. Step 3 Choose this option to exit the installer. You should now have a Scan2015 icon on your desktop and start menu. Click on one of the Scan2015 icons to continue. Installing updates As updates become available, you will not need to reload the drivers. You can download the Scan2015.msi program only. Run this program and choose repair. Uninstall To unistall the program, run the Scan2015.msi again and choose uninstall. However, your data files (configuration files and ballot results) will remain in the Scan2015 directory under your documents folder. You can manually delete this directory if you do not wish to save your data. Page 1
Once the driver and Scan 2015 program have been installed, double click the [Scan 2015] icon on your desktop to start the program. Configuration Setup Be sure your scanner is connected, (Driver installed, USB cable is plugged in, power cord plugged in and the scanner turned on), before running the program for the first time. The first time you run the program, you will come to the configuration screen. If you want to get back to this configuration at a later time, click on the [Configuration] button: First you will need to enter the conference name: It is important to enter the name exactly as written on the Activation Key sheet included with the disk. Case and spacing must match the sheet or the activation key will not work. Next enter the activation key: Use the activation key that you received with the program disk. Next enter the number of your com port. The easiest way is to turn the scanner on and click [ID Scanner Port]. Page 2
Select the type of scanner you have in the blue box and click [Scan], then [Save & Continue]. When you have finished scanning, the scanner type will be identified and entered. This entry will be completed for you when you complete the scan. Next use the check boxes to choose additional settings for the way you want the program to operate. If the box play victory music is checked, the wave file "elected.mp3" will play when you tabulate a vote where there is an election. This is not necessary. If you are tabulating the ballot within ear shot of the assembly floor, you will want to turn this off. Also, if you wish to change the sound to something else, just overwrite the elected.mp3 file with any mp3 file of your choice. (Note, this option does not work on all computers. Sounds are dependent on your computer s version of windows media player which may not be compatible with the program.) If you want the scanner to pause when a person receives a vote who has already been elected or is out of range, you can check the boxes for these options. If there is no pause, the ballot is automatically counted as invalid. You should probably leave these unchecked until you are familiar with the program. They can be changed at any time. Next you will want to check the box to "Reset Persons Elected." Normally, this is only done before the first ballot is taken. Page 3
If it ever becomes necessary, you can reset this in the future by checking this box and clicking on [save]. Be sure to do this if you have run some test ballots and had an "election." Otherwise all ballots for the person you elected will be voided. The last option setting tells the program what to do when less than the maximum number of votes are found on a ballot. The default options means the pop up window will have the default highlighted so you only need to press enter. [Always OK] will mark the ballot OK without prompting. [Never OK] will mark it bad without prompting. I recommend using one of the default options for the first few ballots. If no votes are found on a ballot, you will always be prompted no matter which setting is chosen. You will also need to [Edit the list of Candidates]. To start with, this file is empty. You will need to enter one name per line, followed by the [Enter] key. While they can be entered in any way you choose, the recommended method is alphabetical order in the form Lastname, Firstname. A helpful way to enter the names is in a spreadsheet. You can then sort the list, highlight the names, copy them to the clipboard and paste them into this text file. Page 4
Tip: Enter your candidates in a spread sheet in the way you want them to appear. Each name as you want it to appear (without the numbers) should be contained in a single cell. If you have a spreadsheet with First and Last names in different columns, you can use the following formulas to merge them into one cell: Assume column A is Last name and Column B if First name, in cell C1 enter: =A1&", "&B1 to have Last, First or in cell D1 enter: =D1A1&", "&B1 to have First Last Copy the formulas to all the cells below Highlight the names only from either Column C or D (without any preceding numbers) and copy to clipboard: Page 5
The from the Scan2015 program, edit candidate list and paste the names: If you accidentally elect a person, you can Edit the Persons Elected file here or from the edit menu: Normally, it is not necessary to choose this option. [Open Last Ballot] is the same as choosing open last ballot from the File menu. This will allow you to review and reprint (if desired) the last ballot. Page 6
The last button [Edit Last Ballot Pointer] allows you to change the counter for the last ballot. Normally, it is not necessary to choose this option. However, if you were to go back and recount a previous ballot, you may wish to change the pointer so that the correct ballot number will come up by default. Optionally, you can just manually type in the correct ballot number when you start counting a ballot. This File is a simple text file containing entries each on a new line: In this example, the (J) is for Jurisdictional conference, the number (0) is the ballot number, the (C) is for Clergy and the second number (3) is the number to elect. After editing this file, save it and exit Notepad. You also need to select the quantity of numbers on your ballot from the pull down lists. The Mode Option allows configuration to use more than one scanner to count a ballot. This is a premium option and is usually set to normal. (If used, you will be prompted to specify if this is the primary or secondary computer as well as the drive letter for the merge file. This would normally be a floppy drive or the drive letter for a USB drive.) Once you have completed all the changes you want to make, click [Save]. (Choosing [Exit Program] will not save any changes. They will be lost.) To verify your entries you can run the file integrity check from the file menu. Page 7
Note, before you run a ballot the last 2 items will show bad. This is normal and should not cause conern. Page 8
To take a ballot, Click on the [Scan Forms] button: Taking a ballot You will then see the window to get ballot parameters. Enter ballot number zero to test. Also, enter the number of persons to elect. Click accept. Start entering ballots. Results will be displayed in the results window: When you are finished entering ballots, click the [end of batch] button: Page 9
The ballot will be displayed in Notepad with indications of who has been elected. You can print as many copies of the results as you need. Closing Notepad will return you to the Scan 2015 main screen. If you are finished, click the [exit] button: Tips for taking a ballot: Checking ballots: It is helpful for one person to watch the computer screen while another person feeds cards. Whenever the screen message prompts you to check a ballot, the person feeding ballots can pull that one and hand it to a third person to verfy. The computer operator can click retry (which will ignore that card) and proceed counting the next cards. Once person 3 has checked the ballot, they can mark it with a red X if bad or a red check mark if good. The red marks will not be ready by the scanner. Once all the other ballots have been scanned, scan each of the questionable ballots and the operator can click OK if there s a check mark or bad if there is an X. This proceedure speeds up the counting as the scanner is not sitting idle while someone verifies a ballot. Page 10
Fixing errors: If the computer operator accidentally chooses bad when it should be good or vice versa, there are options to undo a ballot. Click on either undo good ballot or undo bad ballot : For undo good ballot, you will be prompted to re-enter the ballot and it will be un counted. For undo bad ballot, you will select which type of bad ballot you want to undo and it will be un counted. E-mail: dan@conferencevoting.com Contact Information Cell phone (if not urgent, please call in the evening or on weekends) 859-230-3432. Since I do have another full time job, please respect my employer by calling during the day only in an emergency when you cannot contact me via e-mail. You may also want to bookmark the mobile web site on your phone for handy contact information: m.conferencevoting.com Page 11
Solving common problems This page contains answers to some common questions handled by our support staff, along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and presented here as questions. The scanner will not work: Things to check: Unplug the scanner from the computer and power it up. Place a ballot in the scanner. It should go through. If not, check the power connections. If it still does not work, please contact us. (see previous page Turn scanner off and plug it back in to the computer. If you are using a keyspan adapter, check the www.keyspan.com website. Be sure you have selected the correct serial port in the configuration part of these instructions. If none of these things work, please contact us. How do I deal with a candidate who withdraws? Technically, according to the Discipline, delegates may vote for any eligible person. Thus you do not want to void a ballot if someone votes for a candidate who has withdrawn. It is still permissible to vote for a person who has withdrawn. What do we do if we accidentally indicated that someone was elected who was not? This would also apply in the case that of a ballot where someone was elected being redone. In this case from the edit menu, choose Persons Elected file. This is a text file listing the number of those elected and which ballot. Just highlight and delete the line you wish to remove from the list and save the file. Page 12