* *** 2013-09-02_COMMENTS_ON MANUAL_AND_QUICK_GUIDES TXT - 3 Sep 2013 00:14:50 - JKNAUTH Allison and Angie, the documents look very good. Below are my comments on the final (hardcopy) versions I received in the mail plus a couple of files that I got from your website. Most of these comments are editorial or minor technical and can apply to the next distribution of the documents (2014 primary?). I have flagged with "******" any that I think are important enough for this election to merit mention in the upcoming classes or in a BOE e-mail or in some sort of correction sheet distributed at set-up. If you will send me the final Help Table Training pdf and Laptop pdf(?), I will review them and try to get you my feedback before the first class. General comment: If the direction is now that separate checklists are to be given to the precinct officials via Quick Guides, then those checklists should be made as accurate and complete as possible. Currently a lot of almost the same material is in the Manual, which is sometimes at odds with the new Quick Guides. It's a lot of work to make all this information consistent (and for a reviewer to check that it is all consistent). I would favor seeing the redundant material deleted from the Manual. The BOE could then devote its resources to perfecting what's left, wherever it is. See more comments below related to this. One potential problem is that some of the many separate checklist pages might get misplaced during the course of the set-up and election days. We'll have to experiment some to find the best way to manage that. Hopefully there will be enough extra copies so a lost version could be recreated if necessary. ALL PRECINCT OFFICIALS... (8/19/13) === ======== ============ Page 2: Opening the Polls: The first four checkbox bullets should be checkmark bullets, i.e., just reminders rather than items that always must be done and checked off. I like what you did with the other QGs to address my earlier comments on such areas. Page 2: From my comments on the draft Manual: ****** "What happened to the "No Campaigning" signs writeup? It was good in the old QG, but seems to be AWOL in the new one. Bullet 11 still mentions them, so I assume the signs still exist (as they should). Shouldn't there be another row in the Page 2 table with the text from last year?" Page 2: Packing Up Checklist: I don't know if it is good to lower the ?????? screen before powering off the AutoMARK. Check with your hardware people. To be on the safe side, swap the first two bullets. CHIEF JUDGE (8/16/13) ===== ===== Page 1: Polling Place Set-up Checklist: These items might be reordered to more closely match their time sequence. For example, I would have marked the precinct number in all the places listed when I did my Saturday checking of the material I just picked up, so that item might go first. Also, reviewing everyone's checklists and calling the coordinator would be the very last things done. Page 1: Polling Place Set-up Checklist: When you moved the "2. Pink ****** List" item from page 2 to page 1 you left off posting the pink list on the wall with the white list. Was that intentional? Aren't there two copies, one for the wall and one for the Help Table? Maybe I am not remembering correctly. If there is only one list, then it should go to the Help Table, not the wall. Page 5: The "MODEM OPERATION COMPLETE" text got spilled to page 5. It would be better to have it on page 4. Page 6: First checkmark bullet: "in than that which you found it." --> "than in that which you found them." Page 6: Indent the subbullets under the "Review each position's checklist..." bullet. Maybe that also will bolden the first checkbox. REGISTRATION TABLE (8/19/13) ============ ===== Page 1: Election Day: The "A" marking bullet should be split into two ****** parts. First handle the pink sheet names during polling place set-up, so add a bullet there after the "Insert alphabet tabs" bullet. Second, handle the names called in on election day as a bullet under "Election Day". I definitely do not think it is good to leave the pink sheet handling until election morning. We always do that at set-up to get it out of the way and lessen the election morning time crunch; you never know what might come up Monday morning. It would not be good to have this pink sheet work still to do while you are fighting other problems, but it must be done before the voting starts. Page 1: Election Day: "Repeat each voter's name and address once you ****** find their ATV in the pollbook." I think this is the correct order vs. what the Manual now says on page 28, i.e., to repeat the information immediately. See my comment on the draft Manual. However if the Manual does correctly state the way things now must be done, the QG needs to match that new procedure. For this election, the classes, etc. need to clarify which is the right way. I haven't checked the videos to see which way they go on this. See my Manual comment below (page 28). BALLOT TABLE (8/19/13) ====== ===== Page 1: Polling Place Set-up: At the Ballot Table we also keep any sealed boxes of voted ballots -- seems the safest place, right by the boxes of unvoted allots. We also have my ballot count worksheet at the Ballot Table, whose rationale I have often described, as in my previous comments on the draft documents: "For the latter item, I still say the Ballot Table people need to count each "100" pack they open and record the results. I started putting together a form for my people to make that easy to do, which much simplified the reconciliation at the end of the day. For example, see http://jgkhome.name/WakeBOE/Ballot_Count_Reconciliation_2012-11-06.txt http://jgkhome.name/WakeBOE/Ballot_Count_Reconciliation_2012-07-17.txt http://jgkhome.name/WakeBOE/Ballot_Count_Reconciliation_2012-05-08.txt The numbers were filled in by the Ballot Table people as the day progressed and completed at the end of the day. This was our scratch pad for working things out exactly before putting it in ink on the Reconciliation Form. Note that in *every* election there were either too many or too few ballots in some of the "100" packs. Ditto in all the preceding elections I worked, once we learned that the "100" packs were suspect a number of years ago and then started to count the contents." Page 2: In the "Yes" block, under the first bullet add a fourth subbullet: "In Section B for a yellow ATV." (or preferably just get rid of the three preceding subbullets since they were pretty well covered by the above "White" block). HELP TABLE (8/20/13) ==== ===== Page 1: Polling Place Set-up: Add a bullet to set up the Help Table polling booth. Page 1: Packing Up Checklist: Fourth bullet: Is it OK to say "power down" instead of "shut down"? I don't know how the BOE laptop people have configured the Windows option for handling the power button; you can set it to do a clean shutdown first and then power off, or you can have it just immediately do a power off. If it is not set to do a shutdown and you simply power off the PC or pull the plug, you might cause some garbage to be written to the hard drive. VOTER ASSISTANCE (8/19/13) ===== ========== No further comments. LAPTOP (8/20/13) ====== Page 1: Watch out for the print coloring of the "VOTED" field. Page 2: I still question the explicit exclusion of use of the DOB field. DOB is often a useful way to find "unfindable" people and was so recommended in past laptop classes. It's also implied in my "va%" example that you have at the bottom of the page. 2013 ELECTION MANUAL & WORKBOOK (undated) ==== ======== ====== = ======== ========= Page 6: Third bullet: The Manual says the CJ should notify the officials "immediately upon receiving the list of officials" (that would be my preference). Yet the "Pre-Election Chief Judge Checklist" we receive in the mail with the list of officials says not to notify them until later; this year it specifies Sept. 3rd to 6th. When I pointed this out last year, I was told the delay was because the initial list might quickly change. In contrast, we are told to contact the polling place right away. Choosing a set-up time requires some negotiation with both the polling place people and the precinct officials, and requires getting early information from both before a time can be set. I think the sooner everyone can get involved, the better. I can see waiting a day or two to account for a USPS mail delay that some might experience, but why so much longer? Anyway, the Manual and the mailed checklist instructions don't match. Page 6: Eighth bullet: "Pick up pollbooks and Help Table laptop" --> "Pick up pollbooks, absentee list, and Help Table laptop" Page 16: See above comment about trying to duplicate information in the Manual and the QGs. If kept, under "Registration Table" add the acceptable IDs sheet. Page 17: See above comment about trying to duplicate information in the Manual and the QGs. If kept, add the "No Campaigning Signs" row that was lost. Page 19: Bullet 5: A "from the field" comment: Placing the M100 near the exit would have been a real problem in my previous polling place. The exit was far from everything else and we didn't have enough people to station a person way out there if that's where the M100 was located. Usually the Help Table people monitored the M100 since paucity of electrical outlets caused the laptop and M100 to have to be close together. Also, keep in mind that the alarm on the M100 is so soft that if an official isn't close by and the M100 is near the exit, a voter can be out the exit long before it is discovered that the M100 is quietly beeping because of a ballot problem. Page 23: Fourth major bullet: At this point we open the initial ballot ******* pack(s) and do a count to see how many more or fewer ballots there are than 100. Thruout the day we do a count for each pack as soon as it is opened and record the results. Page 28: Below is the comment I had made on the draft Manual. Note ******* that the Manual and Registration QG are out of sync. "Was this sequence change intentional? Previously the Registration Table official would not repeat/read back the name and address until after he/she found the ATV. In fact I usually found it easier to do this in several more steps. First ask for the name and find that group of names in the book. Then ask for the address to find the right ATV. Then repeat the found name and address back to the voter." Page 39: See above Ballot Table QG page 2 comment on yellow ATV. Page 40: This whole page seems redundant with page 39. If kept, for bullet 8: "If incoming transfer section C is complete." --> "If incoming transfer, Section C is complete." ("," and "S") Also, two lines above, "section B" --> "Section B". ("S") Page 42: Reconciling the Number of Voters: With the current curbside ******* flow, the number of curbside voters outstanding won't affect the ATV vs. M100 count match. That's because the curbside ATV numbering isn't done until right when the ballot is going into the M100. I guess if the judge gets lost between the M100 and Ballot Table, you could gin up a case. However, usually adding the number of curbside voters underway would throw off the count comparison, not reconcile it. Page 58: Did you get any legal feedback? I see no change was made ******* in the deceased voter section. Here was my comment on the draft: "You may need some legal input on this one. I think I may have pointed it out before. Your text and the text on the "Notice of Deceased Voter" form do not match. a) The form indicates a legal guardian can submit the form, so bullet 1 in this section should be: "No person other than a near relative or a legal guardian ...". Bullet 3 would need to be reworded as well if a legal guardian can fill out the form, maybe just "* The Notice of Deceased Voter forms are located in the Forms Kit." b) Your text includes a grandchild in the list defining "near relative". The form (probably incorrectly) does not list grandchild as a valid option. Confusing things more (or maybe providing backup for your grandchild addition) is the list on Page 49 defining "near relative", I assume acquired from the same source as on Page 58. Whatever occurs, make sure the Voter Assistance QG stays in sync." Page 61: See above comment about trying to duplicate information in the Manual and the QGs. If kept, note the following Manual vs. QG mismatches/corrections on pages 61-68: Page 61: Second bullet: "voting, waiting" --> "voting or waiting". Page 61: Transmitting Results: Third bullet: "oulet" --> "outlet" Page 61: Under "After you have received ..." heading: Insert bullet to call the Coordinator. Page 63: Fourth major bullet: Add that all three judges must sign the checklist saying all three bins are empty. Page 63: Sixth major bullet: List the checklists so we don't miss any (e.g., see the QG). Page 63: Twelfth major bullet: State that other notes, etc. should be put in the blue bag. Page 63: Delete the "Assign Judge to mail purple envelope." bullet. That should really have been handled by the "second copy of the tape" bullet on page 62. Page 63: Add a bullet to call the Coordinator (move the one from page 68 to match the QG). Page 67: See my above QG ("ALL PRECINCT OFFICIALS..." page 2) comment about reversing the first two bullets (power off before closing things). Page 67: Fifteenth major bullet: CJ must turn off the M100 and remove the red key first. See the way the QG was reworded after my comment on the drafts. Page 68: Move the "Call the Coordinator" bullet to page 63. See above page 63 comment. Back cover: This time I was able to do the crossword without having to add any boxes! Jeff