Editing Vote counting (section)

====Recreated ballots====
Recreated ballots are paper<ref name="milwaukee">"observers from both political parties there... ballots have to be recreated in every election for a number of reasons, ranging from damaged mail-in ballots, to early voters who use pencils which can’t be read by ballot tabulators." {{Cite news |last=Jordan |first=Ben |date=2018-11-07 |title=MKE Election Commission responds to criticism |language=en |work=WTMJ TV Milwaukee |url=https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/milwaukee-election-commission-responds-to-absentee-ballot-criticism |access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref>
or electronic<ref name="spokane">"With the new digital procedure, staff will be able to fix whatever race couldn’t be counted, instead of duplicating a voter’s entire ballot." {{Cite news |last=White |first=Rebecca |date=2019-11-18 |title=One Washington County Plans to Speed Vote Counting with Tech |language=en |work=Government Technology |url=https://www.govtech.com/civic/One-Washington-County-Plans-to-Speed-Vote-Counting-with-Tech.html |access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref>
ballots created by election staff when originals cannot be counted for some reason. They usually apply to optical scan elections, not hand-counting. Reasons include tears, water damage and folds which prevent feeding through scanners. Reasons also include voters selecting candidates by circling them or other marks, when machines are only programmed to tally specific marks in front of the candidate's name.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Steve |date=2006-11-07 |title=Oddly marked ovals bane of poll workers' day |language=en |work=Rapid City Journal |url=https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/top-stories/oddly-marked-ovals-bane-of-poll-workers-day/article_99cdf7c2-e489-581f-9cde-c804a5679419.html |access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref>
As many as 8% of ballots in an election may be recreated.<ref name="spokane"/>

Recreating ballots is sometimes called reconstructing ballots,<ref name="milwaukee"/> ballot replication, ballot remaking or ballot transcription.<ref name="csg">{{Cite web |last=Shafer |first=Michelle |date=2020-07-20 |title=Ballot Duplication: What it is, what it is not, and why we are talking about it |url=https://ovi.csg.org/ballot-duplication-what-it-is-what-it-is-not-and-why-we-are-talking-about-it-in-2020/ |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=Council of State Governments |language=en-US}}</ref>
The term "duplicate ballot" sometimes refers to these recreated ballots,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Black |first=Eric |date=2008-12-17 |title=Recount's next big issue: duplicate ballots |language=en-US |work=MinnPost |url=https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2008/12/recounts-next-big-issue-duplicate-ballots/ |access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref> and sometimes to extra ballots erroneously given to or received from a voter.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tomasic |first=Megan |date=2020-05-14 |title=Some Allegheny County voters received duplicate mail-in ballots due to system glitch |work=Tribune Review |url=https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/some-allegheny-county-voters-received-duplicate-mail-in-ballots-due-to-system-glitch/ |access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref>

Recreating can be done manually, or by scanners with manual review.<ref name="csg3">{{Cite web |last=Shafer |first=Michelle |date=2020-08-31 |title=Ballot Duplication Technology: What is it and how does it work? |url=https://ovi.csg.org/ballot-duplication-technology-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-work/ |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=Council of State Governments |language=en-US}}</ref>

Because of its potential for fraud, recreation of ballots is usually done by teams of two people working together<ref>Duplicate ballot procedures in Ventura County, CA https://recorder.countyofventura.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/BALLOT-DUPLICATION-PROCESS-FACTS-2-Final-1.pdf</ref> 
or closely observed by bipartisan teams.<ref name="milwaukee"/> 
The security of a team process can be undermined by having one person read to the other, so only one looks at the original votes and one looks at the recreated votes, or by having the team members appointed by a single official.<ref>Duplicate ballot procedures in Michigan https://www.michigan.gov/documents/sos/XII_Precinct_Canvass_-_Closing_the_Polls_266013_7.pdf</ref>

When auditing an election, audits need to be done with the original ballots, not the recreated ones.