* *** PW_MANUAL_2008-04-20 TXT - 20 Apr 2008 21:42:19 - JKNAUTH Below are my comments on the undated Poll Worker Manual I received on 4/15/08. Some of the remaining comments that I had made in my 10/11/07 e-mail may still apply, but I won't know until after I get all the material on election day. (See the concluding sections of that e-mail -- the text is on http://nbtha.org/WakeBOE/Comments_2007-10-09.txt.) If I had a copy of the checklists earlier, I could comment on them. At any rate, I will follow up with a post-mortem note on equipment, procedures, documentation, etc. after election day. One election day problem I am anticipating is that the current bin does not seem to be built to handle a "bin full" situation very well. Even with light elections, we found the ballots had fallen every which way and tended to fill up the bin quickly. We had been told to stop the scanning process and remove the ballots if the bin filled up. (Not at all good.) The 5/6 and 11/4 elections will really put this to a test; this is the first heavy election for the new equipment. Nothing was mentioned about this at this year's PTO or Statutory classes. I would feel better if there were a recommended way to joggle the bin every once in a while to cause the ballots to settle. I believe that was done with the old bin and it seemed to work. Cover: Why is there no date on the cover page? If the plan is to update individual pages in the future, now that the manual is in a binder, it would be a good idea to put a date on each replacement page. (Just trying to think ahead.) Page A-7: Voters in line at the Help Table as well as at the Registration Table at 7:30 should also be eligible to vote when the poll closes. The instructions don't say how this is handled when the CJ records names in the list. Lines at multiple tables make it more complicated than the current instructions imply. Page B-5: What was the rationale with not putting "ID REQUIRED" and "VERIFY REGISTRATION INFORMATION" on both the right and left sides? This means the Ballot Table PO cannot double check that the Registration Table PO did the right thing. While working at the Ballot Table, several times I have caught errors by the Registration Table people who did not properly handle these exceptional conditions. Similarly, page C-7 item 6, the "ID REQUIRED" indication is not available to the Help Table vs. in past years. Related to this, the highlighter supplied shouldn't be just the light yellow that is typically used. That color tends to be hard to see in low-level lighting. I prefer something darker, e.g., green. This is more important than ever if the Registration Table will be the only area that will see these exceptions. Page B-7: Under REGISTRATION TABLE: "6. Voter signs" --> "6. Voter verifies label information and signs". Page B-7: Under "BALLOT TABLE": Add "For a primary election, mark the political party for the ballot to be used." Page B-9: "Voter must sign Section B." --> "Voter must sign Section B (not Section A). Page B-12: Add by the third bullet: EXCEPTION: A CURBSIDE ATV WILL NOT YET HAVE THE VOTER'S SIGNATURE. Page B-12: Under 2, add "For a primary election, mark the political party for the ballot to be used." Page B-13: Note that for curbside voting, the ATV will not yet have been signed by the voter when the Ballot Table PO gives a ballot to the Curbside PO. That signature will be present only when the Curbside PO returns with the completed ballot. Page B-13: Nothing was said about periodically moving spindled ATVs to a ring. Is that still the way it will work? Page B-14: "(If Primary, check party in Section A)" could be read that the Registration Table PO should put a checkmark for the political party; that's actually done at the Ballot Table. Probably "check" means "verify" here. There is a similar problem with the third bullet on the left at the bottom of the page. Why not just delete that bullet? All that needs to be said was covered by the second bullet. Page B-14: Third bullet on the right: "then give" --> "then official gives" Page B-14: After bullet 6, add a bullet "Verify that voter has signed the ATV". And give a "dope slap" to the PO if there is no signature because by now the ballot has been put in the M100 and the voter may have driven away. The curbside streamlining is a good objective, but there seem to be some opportunities for screwups with the documented flow. Instead I think the ATV should be taken to the Ballot Table first at this point, where it can be double checked, then the ballot can be inserted into the M100. I have updated my "Curbside Shuffle" web page to show what I think the flow should be in 2008. See http://www.nbtha.org/WakeBOE/curbside-2008.htm. Page C-3: Item 7: The Registration Table PO should have already Xed out the ballot style. Page C-3: The bottom Note and the three items under it are misplaced. This information should be right after the 'If "YES"' item 1, before the "In Section C:". It should not be in the form of a note, but instead should be an inline section. Here's how I would rewrite it: If "YES" is checked indicating he/she has lived at the new address 30 days, look up the new address to determine the correct precinct for the voter: If the new and old precinct are both your precinct: 1. ... 2. ... 3. ... Otherwise, a precinct transfer is required. In section C: 1. ... (old #2) 2. ... (old #3) ... 9. ... (old #10) Page C-5: Flowchart is missing the "No record found" item Page C-5: Should recheck poll book if "YES" registered in your precinct, but the Registration Table PO couldn't find it. Page C-5: Mention destroying the yellow form in the rightmost "No" box. Page C-8: Describe the procedure if the voter has been sent to the wrong precinct. Page C-9: "Voter refuses to sign" is not covered. Page C-10: The "If voter is found:" section at the bottom doesn't appear in the flowchart. Also, the first line should read: "Voter is registered and voter says he/she has not moved (or the move had been reported) and he/she still lives in your precinct." Page C-11: Under item 3, add 'See NOTE below for the case if the voter checked "NO"'. Page C-11: Delete item 10.A because the Election Date is filled in by the Help Table PO, per page C-12. Page C-12: In the sample, why wouldn't the Section B "Previous Residence Address" be filled in? Page C-12: In the sample, in Section A it say "SECTION A IS TO BE COMPLETED BY HELP TABLE OFFICIAL...". however the right box is filled in by the Ballot Table PO. Page D-4: In our PTO class we were told that only the first page of the Provisional Poll Book had pre-printed numbers. Page D-4: Under "SEVENTH": Add "Get an appropriate ballot from the Ballot Table. Page E-3: In our Statutory class we were told there would be no runners or observers at the primary election, but this page says they are allowed. It is still unclear to me what these people actually do to collect the lists mentioned here. It sounds like it could be pretty disruptive to the Ballot Table work. Page E-14: There are no B and D items listed in the Punishment column, yet there are B and D items at the bottom of the table. I have pointed this out for four or five years' worth of manuals. I must be missing something. Page G-5: Can't this item be moved up one, to allow the Chief Judge to remove the key right away and not have to stand by the Automark waiting for it to complete booting? Page H-?: No pages were included. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Editorial: Page A-7: "interfere" --> "interfere with" Page A-8: "(to keep" --> "(but not the Chief Judge, to keep" Page A-9: "A should equal B" --> "A should equal B + C" and put a "C" on line 2, right under the "B". Page B-7: Make "If the voter agrees this information is correct:" a separate paragraph. Page C-3: Remove extraneous line feed in first item 2. Page D-4: Delete extra spaces before the "TENTH". Page D-5: Add "and envelope" to first check bullet. Page D-5: Add "for bottom section" to third check bullet. Page D-5: Add "to Help Table" to fourth check bullet from bottom. Page D-5: Add "on his/her return" to second check bullet from bottom. Page E-2: It would help to say that all the references here to the other sections of the manual are actually to later pages in this section. That would save some useless searching thru other tables of contents. Page E-5: Change "harms" to "harm's". Page E-11: "As easy as "1, 2, 3!" but the boxes are mislabeled as 3, then 2, then 1. Page E-15: Align items 8 and 9 with the rest. Page F-8: Fix "IMEDIATELY" in third right-side box from bottom. Several places: "prec" --> "precinct" Jeff Knauth