* *** POSTMORTEM_2012-05-08 TXT - 9 May 2012 16:38:24 - JKNAUTH Postmortem on 5/8/12 Election at Precinct 01-43 ========== == ====== ======== == ======== ===== Things went very smoothly with the election processing at this precinct. Four of the eight officials had never worked an election before. They all did very well, as did those who had previous experience. It was a busy day, with usually at least half a dozen voters in the polling place and always at least one. We sometimes had lines at one polling book or the other, but never too long. The biggest line at the Help Table was about four voters. We had about 15 curbside voters at this election (I forgot to get the exact count), a lot more than at previous elections. The Help Table processed many requests, including a number of provisionals, unreported moves, and transfers in and out, as well as the normal "Where is my polling place?" queries. We used the BOE Help Line a great deal as questions came up and got good and quick responses. The Training FAQs said PDF district maps would be put on the laptops. I forgot to check. Were they put there? At any rate, I don't think we had voter questions come up in this area. We did discuss it at the set-up meeting using some maps I had printed from the BOE website. Our precinct got redistricted for the US Congressional and NC State Senate districts. Poll Books ---- ----- The new poll book format (tear-out ATVs) worked well. We didn't have many problems with accidentally tearing out the wrong ATV and having to tape it back. It seemed to be pretty easy for the Registration Table Officials to find the right ATV. We did use the provided tab labels and they helped somewhat, although the required left-side placement isn't ideal. The new format of the ATV form itself worked well at the Registration Table, Ballot Table, and Help Table. We had five poll books and three Registration Table Officials. They made it work. We definitely would like to see a better alphabetic split between books, more like the old books. Ideal would be to have a complete letter in a book, not have Reddington, John at the end of one book and Reddington, John Jr. at the start of the next. The existing "random" split (presumably just a fixed page count limit) makes Registration Table organization and name searches more difficult and makes the pole signs hard for voters to interpret. Problems -------- 1) When we got to the polling place for Monday set-up, we found the delivery service had left some other precinct's gray supply bin and had not left ours. We did as much we could without the supplies, then discussed procedures and such while we waited for the right bin. When it arrived, we finished the set-up. The result was that set-up took about an hour more than it should have. Fortunately all the precinct officials were able to stay. 2) Two of the six opened "100 ballots" packs contained more that 100 ballots. None had fewer than 100 this time. See http://jgkhome.name/WakeBOE/Ballot_Count_Reconciliation_2012-05-08.txt for the type of worksheet we used to feed into the Reconciliation form at the end of the day. Unusual Occurrences ------- ----------- 1) One voter was on both the short absentee list (the one posted on the BOE website Monday night) and on the long list picked up Monday afternoon with the poll books. That voter was not in the poll book (as expected). All the other voters on the short list were in the poll book and were then flagged with an "A" using the pink highlighter. Presumably the voter who appeared on both lists was there because of some timing situation when the short list was created and really should not have been there since she was already on the long list. 2) A voter was shown on the laptop as having already voted. He claimed he had not voted. We notified the BOE (they said the vote had been done in Knightdale) and had him fill out a provisional ballot. 3) After a ballot had been given to a voter, she immediately returned and said her ballot had been pre-marked (three ovals had been filled in for three contests). The Ballot Table Officials spoiled the ballot and gave her another one. They had not noticed any pre-marking of the ballot originally. They carefully watched during the rest of the day, but did not see any cases of pre-marking. 4) A voter received a ballot via the normal process, but apparently then decided not to vote. She did not notify the Ballot Table Officials and just left. They subsequently found the blank ballot where the voter had last been seen. This was some time after the ballot had been gotten; they did not know which ATV was associated with the ballot. Fortunately it was totally blank. At the end of the day, after careful review of the ballot by the three judges and consultation with the coordinator, the blank ballot was put in the scanner. Had it not been blank, we would have kept it aside (probably in the emergency bin bag) with an explanation. The end-of-day counts would then have been reconciled to handle that uncounted ballot, but counted (unidentifiable) ATV. Other Matters ===== ======= Online Scheduling ------ ---------- 1) The Topyx problems affected several of our officials, who eventually had to resort to calling the BOE to have classes scheduled manually. 2) I did not find a way in Topyx to confirm that my class attendance had been recorded. This came up when I got another e-mail from the BOE asking me to be sure I had attended all required classes. I had but had no way of getting a confirmation from Topyx that the BOE was aware of this. 3) I did not find a way to confirm that my Monday set-up time had been recorded. I had set it in March via the BOE website. I then got an e-mail several weeks later asking me to go to the website scheduling page to confirm the time was set; however the web page does not really allow just checking an already set time, so I e-mailed my time to the BOE. Then several weeks later I got a call from the BOE asking for my set-up time yet again. I gave it by phone and apparently this time it took. A few days later the BOE posted a web page showing all the set-up times. Why did it take three tries to get the time in? Requests to the BOE -------- -- --- --- 1) Put version dates on all printed material, e.g., Quick Guides and Manual update pages. We get several copies of these: at class, on the website, in the CJ package, in update mailings, etc. It would save time and grief if the material had something that clearly showed what the version was for each document so we could know it was (or wasn't) exactly the same as something we had already reviewed. 2) Put dates on website major changes. Sometimes this is done now, but sometimes not. 3) Put a PDF copy of a blank white ATV (front and back) on the website. Most other forms are there in PDF form. Checklist of Documentation That Should Be Updated --------- -- ------------- ---- ------ -- ------- 1) Poll Books are not returned in the gray supply bin (vs. Manual and blue Quick Guide statements). 2) Poll Book tabs are in the Poll Book box, not in the Chief Judge binder, which is what the website says in "FAQs From Training" > "Tab Instructions for Poll Book". 3) The non-voting system incident report cover sheet in the CJ binder is confusing. In one place it implies the precinct officials can eventually fill out a form, yet no blank forms are supplied. Elsewhere it says the BOE fills out the form. 4) Misuse of "unaffiliated" vs. "nonpartisan". This has now been fixed on the white ATV, but there are still problems elsewhere, as documented in previous e-mails I have sent to the BOE. a) "Primary Training FAQs" #5 is wrong. b) The yellow ATV should have the same text as the white ATV. c) A laptop street search result screen can be misread for a UNA voter. It can imply that only an NP ballot is applicable instead of REP, DEM, LIB, or NP. d) The NC SBOE voter registration search result screen says "UNAFFILIATED" where it should say "NONPARTISAN" in the list of eligible ballot types for a UNA voter. Two e-mails to two addresses on the SBOE website and a hardcopy letter to the SBOE have gone unanswered; the first was sent in March. e) There should be a place on the Curbside Affidavit where the Curbside Official can record the ballot choice for a UNA voter. f) Ditto on the provisional envelope. 5) The Training FAQs file is a good idea, but seems to have stopped being maintained several weeks before the election. See my previous e-mails to the BOE for specific comments. 6) Registration Table Quick Guide and associated Election Manual pages: a) For a UNA voter, note that the three extraneous barcodes should be crossed out. b) The "handwritten V" should be "large printed V". c) The "moved before" should be "moved on or before". 7) Ballot Table Quick Guide and associated Election Manual pages: a) Part 1 looks correct for ballot style location, but parts 2 and 3 have problems. Put a "white ATV" in front of "Section A", "Section B", and "Section C" in the first three bullets. In the third bullet change "if ATV is yellow" to "in Section B of a yellow ATV". In part 3, the implication is that the ballot style is always in Section A, but it can be elsewhere, as stated in the preceding text; just delete "in Section A of the form." b) In the "Multiple Ballot Styles" section division of responsibilities text, say who is responsible for verifying the signature(s) and initials. 8) Help Table Quick Guide and associated "Help Table Procedures" pages: a) In Chart #1 * In the second block, say "Ensure the voter has signed, etc." In the "Help Table Procedures" areas corresponding to a number of the other blocks, there is text saying "Check for voter signature", yet that required check is missing from the "Different Precinct" box on pages 3 and 4. It would be simpler to remove all those other "Check for voter signature" lines and do the check once, immediately after the voter has filled out Section B. b) In Chart #2 * It would be good to ask right at the start when someone appears without an ATV: "Have you checked to see if your name is in our poll books?" * In addition to checking the laptop to see if a voter has already voted, the absentee short list should also be checked. I'm assuming that the long list and the laptop are in sync, so the long list does not have to be checked if the laptop says the voter has not yet voted. However the short list is later than the laptop's information. c) In "Steps To Issue a Provisional Ballot" * In the third box bullet, sequentially number the Provisional Poll Book entry. Written by Jeff Knauth, Chief Judge