* *** POSTMORTEM_2011-11-08 TXT - 11 Nov 2011 17:11:17 - JKNAUTH Postmortem on 11/8/11 Election at Precinct 01-43 ========== == ======= ======== == ======== ===== Things went very smoothly with the election processing at this precinct. Problems -------- 1) Every one of the five 100-count ballot packs we opened did NOT contain 100 ballots. The actual counts were 101, 102, 101, 101, and 101. That left us with six extra beyond the expected 500 ballots. We had carefully counted each pack immediately when opened and kept a record of the actual vs. expected number of ballots, so we knew that there were six extra and we reconciled exactly at the end of the day. This again illustrates that BOE classes should resume pointing out this problem and warning people that they should do the pack-open count to save a lot of hair-pulling when trying to fill out the reconciliation sheet. 2) We found out at the end of the day that some of our signs were not visible from the main road after dark. Next time we will need to place some guidance signs under a street light, which is near the parking lot entrance, although not as close as desired. 3) We really don't have an ideal way to place our curbside speaker stand and sign. The driveway in front of the Saint Raphael Hall entrance is marked as one-way. That puts the curb near the Hall entrance by the passenger side of the car, which may not be the best place for a disabled person to reach out to press the Talk button. On the other hand, if we place the sign and stand on the other side of the driveway, by the driver's side of the car, there is no curb there, just grass and bushes by the edge of the driveway. That placement would also put sometimes heavy school traffic between the voter's car and the Hall entrance. If we placed the sign and stand by some parking area in the church parking lot, the car would not be visible from inside the building. We know from past experince that people seem to have a lot of problems using the speaker system (which is pretty unintelligible even when used properly). So actually seeing the waiting car is much preferred. Fortunately, we can see the driveway from the Registration Table in our setup, although it is far away and thru a frosted glass door. We depend much more on seeing people drive up than having them signal us via the speaker. People do tend to stop by the curb at the Hall entrance anyway, as they have been doing for many years. We have enough people watching for cars that this hasn't been a big problem. Recommendations --------------- 1) The BOE should put version dates on all class and election packet handouts. When we receive several copies at various times, we need to know if something has changed to make the previous copy obsolete, or if it is just exactly the same thing now being redistributed. 2) Tell precinct officials to use the VRN as well as the voter name when using white and pink sheets (or phoned data from the BOE) to mark the poll books. Just using the name is error prone. The pink markers again worked well. 3) We were happy to see the warning on the blue plastic bag to be sure the keys were no longer needed. It would still be good to have a checklist under that: M100 powered off and removed? All doors of steel bin locked? AutoMARK powered off?" Interactions with Voters and Others ------------ ---- ------ --- ------ There were no problems with campaigners or voters this time. Written by Jeff Knauth, Chief Judge