Question:
The RFI is looking for the solution to deploy across Queensland, including regional areas. Would ECQ be able to provide an estimte to the number of sites/stations there are where scanning operations would ideally need to be i.e. at each polling station or council scanning centres?

Answered on 11/Mar/2026 01:54 PM:


The specific number of sites required is unknown at this stage. It will be determined once ECQ understands how the technology works and how it can be deployed out in the field.

The following information may be useful:

• Scanning would most likely take place at Returning Officers offices in selected council areas rather than at polling booths.

• Scanning requirements for councils would most likely be determined based on the number of electors (i.e. large council areas) and would also take into consideration the voting system (first past the post, optional preferential) and voting method (postal or attendance)

There were 102 Returning Officers offices in the 2024 Local Government Elections but as per above, not all of these sites would use the scanning technology.

Question:
Hi ECQ Team,

Just enquiring about the number of ballot papers expected that will be scanned annually on average?

Also, did you have an estimate of staff utilising the technology?

Answered on 13/Mar/2026 03:34 PM:


The specific number of ballot papers to be scanned and staff utilised is unknown at this stage. It will be determined once ECQ understands how the technology works and how it can be deployed out in the field.

The following information may be useful:

• The majority of ballot paper scanning would take place during the Local Government Quadrennial elections which the ECQ conduct every four years.

• Outside of Quadrennial elections ballot paper scanning may also be utilised for Local Government by-elections but this would be on a lot smaller scale.

• The number of ballot papers to be scanned is dependent on how many council areas the scanning technology is deployed in, which is unknown at this stage.

• At the 2024 Local Government Elections there were approximately 5.25 million ballot papers counted across 77 local government areas

• Not all councils areas/ballot papers will require ballot paper scanning.

• Scanning requirements for councils would most likely be determined based on the number of electors and would also take into consideration the voting system (first past the post, optional preferential) and voting method (postal or attendance)

• Scanning would most likely take place at Returning Officers offices in selected council areas.

• There were 102 returning officers offices in the 2024 Local Government Quadrennial Elections but as per above not all of these sites would use the scanning technology.

Question:
Could we please seek clarification on the below questions:

- Will ballot paper scanning be conducted at individual polling locations or at a centralised counting facility, or through a hybrid model?

- What data formats are required for the export of scanned ballot results?

- Are there existing ECQ systems that the ballot paper scanning solution is expected to integrate with?

- Can ECQ provide indicative ballot volumes and expected scanning timeframes?

Thank you.

Answered on 19/Mar/2026 05:10 PM:


Will ballot paper scanning be conducted at individual polling locations or at a centralised counting facility, or through a hybrid model?

• Scanning would most likely take place at Returning Officers offices in selected council areas.

• There were 102 returning officers offices in the 2024 Local Government Quadrennial Elections but not all of these sites would use the scanning technology.

What data formats are required for the export of scanned ballot results?

• The file format is still to be determined but would most likely be an XML or CSV file

Are there existing ECQ systems that the ballot paper scanning solution is expected to integrate with?

• The ballot paper scanning solution would need to integrate with the ECQ’s Election Management System (EMS) by exporting the results via XML or CSV file which could then be imported into the EMS

Can ECQ provide indicative ballot volumes and expected scanning timeframes?

• The specific number of ballot papers to be scanned is unknown at this stage. It will be determined once ECQ understands how the technology works and how it can be deployed out in the field.

• At the 2024 Local Government Elections there were approximately 5.25 million ballot papers counted across 77 local government areas

• Not all councils areas/ballot papers will require ballot paper scanning.

• Scanning requirements for councils will likely be determined based on the number of electors and would also take into consideration the voting system (first past the post, optional preferential) and voting method (postal or attendance)

• Councils range in size from approximately 160 electors in Diamantina up to 850,000 electors in Brisbane City Council

• The ECQ aim to count the majority of ordinary votes for both Mayor and Councillor (including postal votes received prior to election day) on election night between 6pm and 10pm. Any ordinary votes not counted on election night are counted the day after election day or as soon as practical.

• Absent, postal and declaration votes are then counted over the next 10 days as they are received by returning officers.

Question:
Hi ECQ team,

A question to clarify around hardware.

Does ECQ have existing scanning hardware (either multi-function devices (MFDs) or dedicated scanners) at each location where Ballot Paper scanning would have to be undertaken, which could be used to scan ballot papers?

Or does ECQ require the supply of suitable scanning hardware as part of the BPS solution?

Thank you.

Answered on 07/Apr/2026 07:36 AM:


ECQ would require the supply of suitable scanning hardware as part of the BPS solution.