* *** 2016_BASIC_TRAINING_ONLINE_2016-01-15 TXT - 15 Jan 2016 22:35:56 - JKNAUTH Comments on Draft Basic Training Course ======== == ===== ===== ======== ====== My comments are in the order I saw things in the course. That's to help you figure out which slide a comment applies to, given the lack of an easy way to identify a specific slide. The comments are not in any sort of priority order. There are some general comments at the end. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1) The map for Primary Contests is certainly approximate. It's unclear what it is trying to convey for the County Commissioner primary races. The coloring has nothing to do with District B as far as I know. As for approximateness, a couple of examples: * Raleigh all the way north to Franklin County? Not even close. * Gray "Lake Wheeler Park" area -- presumably just a big unincorporated section, but there are a lot of those, unshown. 2) "Before the Election: Remember to Vote!" slide: The buttons cause different actions: * After closing the "Vote Early" web page, you end up at the following slide and don't have a chance to hit the "Vote Absentee" button (unless you first press Back). * After closing the "Vote Absentee" PDF file, you are taken back to the "Remember to Vote!" slide. * Presumably it's very dependent on your browser and its configuration -- whether tabs are used, whether a PDF is displayed inside/outside of the browser, etc.. 3) "Authorization to Vote Form" slide should also highlight the VRN area which is important for the new Help Referral form (unfortunately). 4) The video for "Valid Photo IDs" statement of "unexpired within four years" is confusing. It would have been better to say "expired no more than four years ago". That would also be more consistent with the slides. 5) "Voters over the age of 70" * If the algorithm of the example is to be used, months and days do not count. Is that really true, or are the exact birth date and expiration date to be used? * If the example (rounded) algorithm is to be used, it would probably be simpler to do addition rather than subtraction, i.e., add 70 to the birth date and compare that to the expiration date. If the sum is less than the expiration date, then OK; otherwise, fail. 6) The video says less about Tribal ID than the slide. It will be interesting to see what the detailed instructions say on this. We will probably learn more about Indian tribes than we ever knew existed, but will never use any of it. 7) Why is the full HAVA "ID Required" list still used at the Registration Table if the Voter must always present a photo ID (which is one of the HAVA items)? Having the required photo ID should end the identification process -- no need for a utility bill, etc. 8) In each election will there be a dates sheet in MM/DD/YY format listing exactly when each type of ID document is valid? That would certainly be preferable to having the Registration Table officials trying to do the calculations on the fly. 9) Why is the curbside photo ID process more lenient than the one at the Registration Table, i.e., allowing any item on the HAVA list, not just a photo ID? I realize this is nothing the Wake BOE controls -- I'm just curious what rationale can be stated in answer to my question. 10) The Driver License quiz should be after the Registration Table video instead of before it, to clarify which items on the license should be checked. 11) The "Authorization to Vote Form" slide says "ID Exempt" will be in the same Special Designation areas as "V", "ID", and "A". However the "ID Exempt is printed..." slide says "ID Exempt" will be near the top of the ATV, under the precinct info, not in the Special Designation area. 12) Is the Registration Table video correct that the official must first get (but not check) a photo ID before asking for name, etc.? That won't work well for "ID Exempt" voters unless the voter knows to say "I am ID exempt" instead of "I don't have a photo ID". It may take a while for the RT official to realize that they should ask for the voter's name and address to find the ATV and see there that it is OK for the voter not to have a photo ID. The actual order of doing things at the RT is going to prove interesting. Note that the following Quiz has the RT official asking for the photo ID *AFTER* the name, address, and party affiliation are checked (which seems better to me). In any event, there is an inconsistency in this area in the various videos and slides. Check the Curbside video as well; I have no inclination to watch it yet one more time. 13) The video shows the photo ID being handed to the RT official. Should voters be warned to remove their IDs from wallets, etc. well beforehand since that can take a lot of effort and time? 14) "Voters Sent to the Help Table" slide: Why is there a ballot style on the "V" ATV? Is this a change? Or was last year's incorrect ATV image never corrected? Four of the green popups are identical, but really should not be since two of the four are different from the other two. The fifth ("?") one is OK. 15) "Help Referral Form" slide: This new form seems like it will slow down things at the RT for simple referrals to the HT, i.e., for "V", "ID", and "A". Is all the VRN recording, etc. really needed for those at the RT when it could be done at the HT instead (if needed)? 16) I REALLY wish external displays and input fields of the 12-digit VRN would be split into something like xxxx xxxx xxxx. I have documented this comment for many years now. (Internally the VRN can be kept compressed.) Is there no human factors work being done in the BOE? Has this comment ever been passed to the NC BOE if they are the people responsible, as I assume they are? Maybe this will get some attention now that many more people will have to work with VRNs (because of the Help Referral form at the RT). The RT voter lines will get longer as officials spend time trying to carefully fill out the form, or maybe the VRNs will just get misrecorded as the officials try to wade thru the 12-digit compressed numbers. 17) "Multiple Help Table Scenarios" slide: "Referal" typo in top text. 18) "Identification issues" on the Help Referral form are not explained in the course. Presumably this part of the form will be explained in the additional required course that was mentioned at the beginning. 19) "Help Referral Form" quiz: The text needs to say use the Voting Site data from the ATV below and use your own name in the name field. (I wish the form had "Precinct Number" as the field name instead of "Voting Site".) 20) Quiz Question for George Knightley ATV: Is it now correct to show a ballot style for a "V" ATV? Ditto, ditto, ..., ditto for the following slides. In fact, check all the "V" images in the course and fix them all if this is still an error, i.e., if this is not a valid change from last year. 21) The Ballot Table video was pretty uninformative since it mainly just showed the backs of the BT officials and not the details of what they were doing. 22) I'm curious: Why is 7 instead of 8 the minimum number of ballot styles? (R, D, L, N) x (17, 18-or-older). The bond is eligible for all "parties", isn't it, including N, so there would have to be two for each, one for the 17s and one for everyone else. I'm missing something here. 23) I never got a reply to my comment last year about how the many ballot styles will be handled? Will there be some sort of special folder box (as in prior elections) to store the multiple styles for which only a few ballots are supplied? Otherwise it will be a real mess at the BT with all those Libertarian-under-17s, etc. 24) "Finding the Correct Ballot Style": Hovering over top right red box: Need to insert "For a move," after the first sentence. In bottom right red box, "initialed." -> "initialed Section B." 25) Quiz Question: In addition to a blank right part of section C, the phone number is blank. Isn't that frowned upon? Maybe just put in a number for the course. Ditto on the following slide. 26) Quiz Question on missing UNA information: "Inform the Chief Judge." -> "Inform the Chief Judge, who will tell the Registration Table Official not to make this mistake again." 27) "Bar code scanner" slide: At least in the text list the proper order for scanning: First the ballot, then the ATV. This action slide doesn't do much to say how the scanner procedure really works. 28) Is there no Help Referral form used when the Ballot Table sends a voter to the Help Table for a Jurisdictional Dispute? I'm still unclear what the Help Referral form is supposed to be gaining for most of the simple things (i.e., those not related to photo ID). If it is meant to log HT activity in some way, then this BT -> HT case is being missed. Of course I'm not really interested in having the BT people do more work, requiring them to be trained for this form, requiring copies of this form at the BT (mixed in with the many ballots), etc., etc. I don't seem to be a big fan of this new form. 29) Drag and Drop exercise: The "Overvote, Return" result needs some editing to say what happens next (as the other actions do), instead of just being blank or showing the Accept result. The latter seems to be dependent on the order you use to do the exercise. 30) Curbside processing: a) The Affidavit form is shown in the introductory slide, but is not used or mentioned in the *LOOOONG* video. b) The Affidavit form is still missing a UNA party-choice field. See my many comments on this in past years c) What is this "log" thing mentioned in the video? Will it be used in Wake County? Is that binder held by the video Official a real piece of equipment we will now be using in addition to the other stuff the CSO must carry to the curbside? d) It is poor to require the CSO to read the oath to the voter instead of giving the voter the option to read it. e) In the video the voter never signs a form, affidavit or anything else. I'm sure that is not the way it is supposed to work. With no signature, the voter hasn't really sworn to an inability to vote inside. f) This is a *LOOOONG* video, which cannot be skipped, forwarded, or backed up to something you wanted to see again quickly. Bad. 31) Quiz Question on bond queries: It says "You may also do some research on the bond with your phone if you prefer." That will result in "Oh, you mean I really CAN call my Uncle Joe and then Cousin Tom and then my golf buddies to get their advice." Or "OK, I'll just camp out over here with my ballot for the next hour or two while I learn to use Google, or while I post a few Facebook queries and wait for responses." NO, NO, NO. Phone research is not to be encouraged; drop that last sentence from the slide. 32) I saw an "Evaulation" typo somewhere in my first pass, but missed it this time around. I assume you have a search facility that can handle the source files for the course. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A) The course audio and video worked OK on my PC. There were no hiccups this time, although I was using a different PC than in past years. B) The quizzes were good. More would be nice, but make sure they work (see above comments). C) A big problem with this course tool is that there is no easy way to go backwards from every slide, e.g., to try something else, or to go to a specific place in the course, or to skip forward/backward in the videos. It is not built to let a user easily go to some area to find the answer to a question. D) It would be nice if there were some sort of "progress" indicator to show how far along you were, like a % indicator. E) I sometimes encountered a long delay after providing a correct answer plus doing a "click anywhere"; finally the next slide appeared. The delay made me wonder if something was broken or if my "proceed" click had been missed. I realize that the above three comments may be due to a deficiency in the course tool you are using rather than anything you can do about it. This is just feedback you can pass along Given all the substantial changes, particularly at the Registration Table, I think everyone will need to attend an in-person class this time around, even people who have worked many elections. The online course could then be used as a refresher. At this point I'm certainly concerned about how precinct officials will cope with this election. As a CJ, I hope I can get it all understood by election day. On that day (and at Monday setup) I expect to spend a lot of time just answering questions on the changed/added stuff vs. doing the normal CJ things I have done in past elections. Hopefully there will be enough time to do all that is needed. Jeff Knauth