* *** COMMENTS_2012-10-08_CLASS_DOCUMENTS TXT - 10 Oct 2012 12:37:28 - JKNAUTH Below are my comments on the documents handed out at the 10/8/12 Basics and Help Table classes. I think the documents are in very good shape. I also have included some miscellaneous comments at the end. 2012 General Election Manual & Workbook (undated) ==== ======= ======== ====== = ======== Page 3: Under Building Evacuation, in addition to "All boxes of unvoted ballots", add "All boxes of voted ballots". We will likely have some of the latter boxes this election since we will be emptying the steel ballot box after every 500 ballots are entered and storing those sealed boxes under the Ballot Table by the boxes of unvoted ballots. We would also evacuate all the opened-pack ballots on the ballot table as well -- no sense leaving a bunch of ballots on the table if it is considered important to evacuate the boxed unvoted ballots. Maybe you can figure out a concise way to word all this. All this might be something that should be added to Gary's last-minute update to the CJs. It also affects the Chief Judge QG. Page 8: Under "Back of White ATV: Section B", first bullet: Address filled out -> Name, address, etc., filled out Page 8: non partisan -> non-partisan (two places) Page 19: In the class, several times they made a big deal about not detaching the ATV for an ID voter until it was sure the voter did not have to go home to get an ID. In the middle column, third block down, move the "Detach voter's ATV" bullet to make it the second bullet instead of the first. Ditto in the Registration Table QG. Page 20: Similar comment to page 19 about moving the detach item in the ID section at the bottom of the page. Page 24: I still think "a relative's Absentee by Mail ballot" should be "an Absentee by Mail ballot" to cover ALL such ballots -- a relative's, the voter's, a neighbor's, etc. Page 27: Delete the three sub-bullets under "LOOK at the ballot style" in the YES block. The WHITE and YELLOW blocks above cover the ballot style location correctly in the two ATV types. The three sub-bullets don't, but would be redundant anyway. Ditto in Ballot Table CG. Page 28: Has a similar problem to page 27. In fact, I would like to see page 28 (Section 3.2) be deleted entirely. It adds almost nothing to what page 27 covers well (once the above comment is handled). Why say the same thing again? It's better to say it once and say it right. Add the scraps from 28 to 27 that aren't in 27 and then delete 28 and renumber pages/sections as needed. Ditto in Ballot Table QG. Page 29: In Step 6 at the top, "Issue the ballot to the voter" -> "Give the ballot and instructions to the voter". Ditto in Ballot Table QG. Page 44: The Deceased Voter notice includes "legal guardian", which is not explicitly noted in the bullets above although all the near relatives are. Page 50: In the second bullet: "tabulator, or ballots, or laptop" -> "tabulator or ballots". You had already made this change in the blue Set-up Checklist. Page 50: Between major bullets 6 and 7, add another major bullet: "Update Poll Books, e.g., insert labels, mark covers, and flag Absentees". Ditto in the blue Set-up Checklist. Page 60: non residential -> non-residential (Note this term was not added to the blue Closing the Polls Checklist Page 2, but should have been.) Page 70: non partisan -> non-partisan (In Crossover Voting) Help Table Procedures (9/25/12) ==== ===== ========== Page 2: Second column, second block Insert "Check Section B for completeness" as a new item following item 1. Ditto in Help Table QG. Angie already knows about this. Page 2: First column, sixth block: add "and voter cannot provide ID". Ditto in Help Table QG. This came up in the Help Table class. One thing the flowchart does not (cannot?) adequately cover is that ID Required might come up simultaneously with another issue, e.g., an address change. The Help Table officials will need to watch out for this to ensure they don't handle just the address change, send the voter to the Ballot Table, and not handle the ID requirement as well. Registration Table and Ballot Table people can help catch this, but there are scenarios where the only one who could see it (via the laptop) is the Help Table official. Fortunately, most of the time (but not always) the voter will have a white ATV in hand with the big "ID" eyecatcher on it which all three tables can see and make sure a proper ID-info-supplied box has been checked. Page 7: First column, below second block: Add another Yes/No block for the question: Is voter listed as "No Ballot"? The "No" branch would go down; the "Yes" branch would go to a block saying "Explain to the voter that there are no races for which he can vote in this election -- he is not in any of the voting jurisdictions." Ditto in Help Table QG. Angie already knows about this. Page 8: Below item 1, add another item with the "No Ballot" logic described above and then renumber the following items. Page 8: Choose a different text/background color for the "Action - Voted" since it prints pretty much black on black if you are printing a black and white hardcopy. I assume the Action - No Ballot would have a similar problem. Maybe you can use a reverse white text on black background for these fields so they would work in both color display/printing and black and white printing. Page 21: Similar printing problem to page 8. Quick Guides and Checklists ===== ====== === ========== Polling Place Set-up Checklist (9/17/12) ------- ----- ------ --------- See General Manual page 50 comment above. Closing the Polls Checklist Page 2 (9/17/12) ------- --- ----- --------- ---- - See General Manual page 60 comment above. Chief Judge Quick Guide (9/17/12) ----- ----- ----- ----- Under Building Evacuation, see General Manual page 3 comment above. Laptop Quick Guide (9/18/12) ------ ----- ----- I wish they would remove the "X" from the DOB field since everyone knows that field can and should often be used. In fact the Help Table Procedures manual recommends using it. Voting Equipment Quick Guide (9/19/12) ------ --------- ----- ----- The last bullet says "review the barcode scanner instructions in this Guide", but there are no such instructions, although there probably should be. See a recommendation I had made in my 8/30/12 e-mail comments for page 31 of the draft General Manual. Help Table Quick Guide (8/27/12) ---- ----- ----- ----- See Help Table Procedures page 2 and 7 comments above. Registration Table Quick Guide (9/18/12) ------------ ----- ----- ----- See General Manual page 19 comment above. Ballot Table Quick Guide (9/18/12) ------ ----- ----- ----- See General Manual page 27, 28, and 29 comments above. Precinct Officials Website ======== ========= ======= 1) Don't forget to fix the "Hel(l) Line" typo in the Help Table (with ATV) Flowchart. I still think that was a Freudian slip. 2) The Authorization to Vote (ATV) Review page should be replaced with the Spotlight page from the General Manual, since the latter includes my previous corrections, but the former does not. Miscellaneous Topics ============= ====== 1) The Basics class mentioned a 15-minute session that should now be included in Monday Set-up. FYI, here is my own checklist for doing our set-up, including the briefing topics I go thru with my people: http://jgkhome.name/WakeBOE/Tasks_2012-11-06_Election.txt . I have used this list for each election and modify it as needed, e.g., as I pick up information from classes, BOE e-mails, websites, etc. 2) During the course of election day, every hour or two I joggle our ballot box back and forth, and side to side quickly, trying to get the ballots to settle down to the bottom. That seems to have worked well with the normal-sized ballots. I am interested to see how it works with the long ballots. I am also interested to see if we have humidity curl problems with the long ballots in the November weather. 3) There is a discrepancy between what the manual and other documents say about CJ notifications to Precinct Officials vs. what the initial CJ package says. Ditto on notifying the polling place. The manual says notify immediately when we get the list of precinct officials and contacts (see page 6). However the sheet in the CJ package gives specific dates to do this, which are usually over three weeks after the CJ package is received. In fact that delay has caused problems; I could have determined a PO availability issue much earlier if I had been allowed to contact POs when the manual said I should, but I was told via BOE e-mail replies to wait to the dates in the CJ sheet. I have raised this problem a couple of times in this and previous elections, but have not received a good answer about why the long wait is needed once I, the CJ, believe my Precinct Officials list looks OK and the BOE has then notified the POs on that list that they have been selected to work in the upcoming election. Why can't I start communicating with them right then? 4) In our polling place we will continue to count the ballots each time we open a new "100" pack, since we have very often found there are more or fewer ballots than 100 in a pack. This is NOT infrequent. 5) The provisional envelope (in contrast to the white and yellow ATVs) does not contain anything in the certification ("I Attest") that the voter has not voted before in this election. That seems to be a hole, or is it intentional for some reason? Jeff Knauth