Understanding Paper Ballots

Paper ballots are made from specialty graphic paper. U.S. paper mills manufacture specialty graphic paper year-round.

Paper ballots need to meet certain specifications for ballot tabulators to process them correctly. The specifications can include:

• Weight - yes, paper has different weights!
• Brightness
• Opacity, or how see through the paper is
• Caliper, which means the thickness
• Smoothness

Once a paper mill receives an order, the paper is produced to the specifications required. Then, there are multiple paths the paper can take before it ends up at a voting location:

• The paper mill can send the paper directly to a converter or a printer.
• The paper can go to a distributor first and the distributor sends it to a converter or a printer.

Paper converters take unprinted paper and turn it into the finished ballot sizes. Printers print the ink on a ballot.

Once the ballots are printed, they are shipped to the election district or assembled with other election materials by election service providers that manage the voting process workflow. Election officials work with paper suppliers and place orders for paper ballots months in advance.

Other election materials like ballot envelopes and instructions can be printed on different paper weights and types.