* *** COMMENTS_2014-08-15_GE_MANUAL TXT - 17 Aug 2014 01:40:48 - JKNAUTH Comments on 8/15/14 draft of the 2014 General Election Manual & Workbook Cover Since the "Show What You Know" sections have now been deleted, can this go back to being just an "Election Manual" instead of an "Election Manual & Workbook" Page xx: I am glad to see the BOE has settled on one term: "pollbook" vs. "poll book", "Poll Book", etc. I hope the Quick Guides and other documents follow suit. Ditto for "precinct official" vs. "Precinct Official" (but fix page 48, box at bottom). Also, on page 36 you have "Registration Table Official's", but "Help Table official's"; shouldn't both these "official's" be lower case now? Page xx: The ATV images in this manual appear to be a mixture of primary and general election types. Many have the big UNA party selection box in the mid-left and the Party Dispute checkbox at the bottom; others do not (as I suspect they shouldn't for this general election manual). Page 5: At the end of the first paragraph, add "Also designate a place for the precinct officials to meet after the evacuation." I have been doing this in my Monday set-up briefings and think it should probably be done as a standard part of the emergency procedures review. Page 9: Under "Things have changed in 2014", add "Cell phones are now permitted in voting booths for checking voting notes, but not for anything else, e.g., making calls, sending texts, taking pictures, etc. (This is not a change I am particularly happy about, as described in my last postmortem report, but it is what it is.) Page 10: Was a bullet symbol and item break lost in the last item? Two unrelated bullets from the previous manual seem to have been merged. Page 11: First bullet: We do the pay sheet signing earlier in the day. There is too much of a time crunch to do other things after the polls close. If some precinct official bugged out after signing and before the polls closed, the Chief Judge will certainly record that on the pay sheet and elsewhere. Note that an AWOL official could also occur after a post-poll-closing signing, but before all the packing had been completed; that's not permitted either and the CJ would need to record the absence on the pay sheet as well as reporting it to the coordinator. Net: The pay sheet can be signed before poll closing and the CJ will then note any subsequent changes. Page 11: Change "&" to "and" in the top block at the bottom of the page. Page 12: Bullet 8 of first section: Add the absentee list to what the CJ picks up. The list is in the pollbook box; probably that should be noted here so CJs don't expect the list to be a third thing to be handed to them. Note that on page 15, the pollbook box, absentee list, and laptop are listed separately as pick-up items. Page 12: Bullet 5 of second section: "JudgeS" -> "Judges" Pages 15 and 58: One lists the optional tables/chairs, the other does not. Page 25: In Step 1: "Name, Address, and Party Affiliation" -> "Name and Address" Page 25: What is the purpose of "After locating ... state whether the person seeking to vote is registered."? Hasn't that already been accomplished by the official stating "I have found your information." in the line above? Page 27: In the heading: "Mark ID, and" -> "Marked ID and" Page 27: Second paragraph: "name, address, and party affiliation" -> "name and address" Page 33: The image should have the "A" box checked (as the BOE previously had noted in their "Manual & Workbook Corrections" ). Page 33: I have commented on this several times for previous versions of the manual. This absentee stuff seems misplaced. It is buried in the Registration Table section although it is not specific to that set of officials. Also, it is a non-numbered heading, so it does not appear in the Table of Contents. (I challenge anyone to quickly find this information if some voter appeared who was trying to submit an absentee ballot -- try this test on the next five BOE people you see.) Maybe put it as a numbered subsection of section 1 or 7. But make it easier to locate in any event. Page 33: Also on the absentee text, here is what I said in an e-mail last March on the draft then current: "What should you do if a voter tries to give you a relative’s Absentee by Mail ballot?" replace this with "What should you do if a voter tries to give you someone else's Absentee by Mail ballot?" The current words handle only relatives. What about others, e.g., a next-door neighbor, a best friend, a blood brother, someone met in the parking lot, etc.? Using my suggested wording covers it all: no absentee ballot for someone else (question 1) and no absentee ballot for the voter himself (question 2) -- i.e., no absentee ballot period. Page 37: Item 4: Delete "For a UNA voter, scan the barcode of the voter's party choice." Page 37: Was it intentional to delete the "unhappy beep" (mismatch) text? The mismatch image was kept. Page 38: From personal experience, I think it would be good if the second Ballot Table official ALSO checked the ATV. Page 38: By implication of the current text, if a voter messes up a ballot and wants a new one, the Ballot Table official must retrieve that voter's ATV so he/she can do a rescan of it and the replacement ballot. I think this is way overkill. From my 5/6/14 postmortem report: "It seems silly to require the voter's ATV to be retrieved for scanning to replace a spoiled ballot with another ballot of exactly the same style. More mistakes and other problems would probably result during that retrieval than just visually making sure the spoiled and replacement ballot styles are identical. Of course if the voter says he was given the wrong ballot style (not just that he made a marking mistake), that's a different matter and results in a much different procedure." Pages 38 and 39: As noted in my 3/29/14 comments on a draft of the previous manual (old page 46 is now page 39): "In class another example of a spoiled ballot was pointed out. If someone has started to mark a ballot and then declares a jurisdiction or party dispute, per page 46 the marked ballot must be spoiled. An easy fix might be just to change the heading level for "Jurisdiction or Party Dispute at the Ballot Table" on page 46, making it the same level as the last two headings on page 45, thus making it subordinate to the page 45 "Spoiled Ballots" heading. Also change "two" to "three" in the first sentence under "Spoiled Ballots" on page 45." Page 39: Add a Ballot Style barcode bullet to the list since the barcode must also be Xed out, as shown in the image. "Party Dispute" is mentioned in item 3, which could not occur in the general election. Page 41, 50, and Glossary: The exact same set of words should be used for all the "near relatives" definitions. * Glossary and Page 41: Good (also consistent with the VA QG) * Page 50: Uses different order and words than the others, although the meaning is the same. Page 45: Step 13: The Judge or Chief Judge must take the responsibility of ensuring the ATV is completely filled in if the ballot is going to be inserted in the M100 before the ATV is given to the Ballot Table official, who normally has this checking responsibility. If the Ballot Table official sees a problem after the ballot is put into the M100, that's too late. This is an old comment from me, who would prefer a different order of 13 (last part) and 14. Page 50: Under "Voters Who Are Deceased" (note my init-cap for "Are"): Bullet 3 is more restrictive than bullet 1; it probably should not be. Why not just say for bullet 3: "The Notice of Deceased Voter forms are located in the Forms Kit." avoiding the mismatch of who can report someone is dead. Page 57: I think it would be helpful to still include an image of the Reconciliation Form. You have all this detailed, line referencing text about how to fill out the form, but no form for the reader to look at to match with the text. Jeff