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Hi, 19-24 Precinct Officials. Things have been pretty stable since my 9/18/26 email to you. The files linked to below are mostly unchanged from what was on my website back then. The few changes are summrized in Description of Changes.
Our 11/2/26 Monday Setup time at Hope Lutheran Church is 5:00 PM EST. We should finish setup sometime between 7:00 and 8:00 PM, maybe earlier if all goes well. Our Voting Enclosure is the Church Narthex. Enter by the "Red Door", which is at the end of the sidewalk, as shown here: path to the "Red Door" and Hope Luthern Church photos.
The above "path" diagram also shows where you should park on Election Day, down by the side driveway at the lower left part of the diagram.
I'll cover a lot in this email to hopefully make things go faster at Monday Setup. This email has links to files on my website. For setup, takedown, etc., I'll bring enough copies of the relevant diagrams for you to use Monday and Tuesday.
STAFFING: The desired staffing number is 13 for this election. Since my original email to you we have had only one dropout -- Diane, whose husband is undergoing eye surgeries. The Staffing Team has now given us Laura as a replacement. Also, John will now replace Diane as the Republican Judge. So we are now again fully staffed, although the Mackinaw Drive contingent has been reduced from four to only three.
ASSIGNMENTS: Attached is my take on Monday and Tuesday assignments, based on your inputs. Tell me if you see any problems. Everyone should let me know at any time if you need to take a break or work at a different station. As usual we will try to move people around to multiple positions during Election Day.
PREPARATION: Review and bring your Manual, Quick Guides, etc., to be well prepared to start Election Day at your designated initial position. That position is shown in the table at the top of the attachment and is also flagged with a @@ in the table on the attachment's second page. Review the Oath in the Manual; I'll just quickly read it aloud Monday before you sign it.
OVERVIEW: Monday Setup tasks summarizes all the Monday setup tasks.
LAYOUT: This shows the inside layout we can try initially. We will probably shift things around somewhat when we have the actual furniture and voting equipment to experiment with.
INSIDE SIGNS: The placements of the black-on-yellow BOE signs are noted in the BOE sign kits and also (in most cases) on the bottom of each BOE sign. The placements of my color-on-white signs (and some of the BOE signs) are shown in inside signs.
VOTING BOOTHS: As noted on the Manual, be sure to twist in the legs; otherwise they tend to fall out and the booth will collapse. I once saw that happen to a voter in Raleigh -- definitely not good! Also as pointed out in the Manual, the wheelchair-accessible voting booth has a special setup; it has shorter legs and also uses extenders to widen the gap between the front legs. The extra tables we will use as voting "booths" will be new for this election. Their placements in the current diagrams are just placeholders; we'll experiment Monday to determine the actual positions.
BOOTH PENS: When attaching a pen to a voting booth, you don't have to tie the string around the pen. Instead it's easier to just take off the pen's cap, stuff a little of the string's end into the cap, and then push the pen's barrel hard back into the cap, pinning the string to the pen. That's faster and more reliable than trying to tie the string tightly around the pen.
PARKING LOT SIGNS: My current plan for outside sign placements is in outside signs.
CURBSIDE SETUP: As in March we will use the Church's traffic circle (loop) for our curbside area. This works much better than the side area we used in November 2025.
Voter path shows the path almost all voters will follow in the Voting Enclosure. This diagram is especially important for those of you new to being a Precinct Official or if you haven't served in a long time.
FLOWCHARTS: At Monday Setup, I'll go over my Registration Table card to point out some RT processing areas that Officials frequently overlook. See non-primary card. On Monday I'll give each of you a copy. A letter-size version, which uses fewer abbreviations and also provides some background information, is at letter-size flowchart. However the RT card does the job and is all you need to keep available. My proposed replacement for the current RTQG (Registration Table Quick Guide) flowchart is the merged flowchart, which I hope the BOE Staff will adopt by the 2027 election; it fixes some problems in the current RTQG flowchart.
Per the BOE Staff, you can use the RT card as personal notes on Election Day. However for consistency with other polling places, we must be sure to have the current RTQG flowchart taped to the Registration Table.
The hints file lists some of the unusual things you might encounter at the Registration Table, e.g., why a name cannot be found in the pollbooks. This just collects some information that is currently sprinkled around the Manual, the Quick Guides, and BOE classes.
"FORGETFUL VOTERS": If a voter arrives at the Registration Table and then realizes they must go outside the voting enclosure to retrieve a forgotten photo ID or HAVA ID, they require special handling. Per my flowchart, such a voter will always first be sent to the Help Table with the appropriate ID exception boxes marked on the ATV (plus any other appropriate exception boxes marked). The HT Officials will then follow the procedure already defined in the Photo ID Quick Guide for such a voter. That procedure allows the voter to leave the voting enclosure to retrieve a forgotten or better ID. On return the voter does not have to wait in the RT line a second time, but is escorted directly to the HT to complete all ATV processing.
I'll go over all this at Monday Setup. As I'll explain there, this "I forgot" situation will in fact probably never happen, at least not at Hope Lutheran. The voter is reminded many times (by a number of signs and by the Door Monitor), "Don't forget to bring in your PHOTO ID!" This is all before the voter gets in an RT line. Any voter who STILL arrives at the RT without a photo ID properly SHOULD be sent to the HT.
"UNREPORTED MOVE" PROCESSING: The process has changed for handling an unreported move: a voter moved to a new precinct, did not notify the BOE of the move, and did not first stop at their old precinct to get a labeled ATV before showing up at their new precinct. First, at the new precinct the HT Official has to use a QR code lookup on their cell phone to get to a list of all the phone numbers for the HTs of other polling places. (Before Election Day make sure you know how to do a QR lookup on your cell phone.) You have to scroll thru this long list to find the HT phone number(s) for this voter's old precinct. This can take a while if the old precinct is toward the end of the list,
Once the new precinct's HT has contacted the old precinct's HT, the "T" processing is now handled entirely by HT Officials. (In the previous election, RT Officials could have been involved.) At the old precinct, the called HT Official looks up the voter in the pollbook and does the pink "T" marking on the voter's label as well as passing information to the calling HT Official at the new precinct. The called HT Official also creates an entry in the new "Unreported Move Log". At the end of Election Day, this form will go in the HT folder I'll give you at Monday Setup; eventually it will go in the Blue Bag when we pack up.
PROCESS DIAGRAM: Curbside processing describes the processing done for a curbside voter. My diagram has more detail than the BOE Manual's diagram, which is attached to the back of the privacy sleeve.
Although the curbside procedure is complicated and involves a lot of walking, it works fine if you just follow my diagram. I'll provide a copy of that diagram to anyone who works curbside. It will be attached to the front of a pocket folder, which I created to hold the many other documents that may be required in the latest update of curbside procedures, e.g., for processing photo IDs and ATV "F" exceptions. A few years ago, things were simpler and only one piece of paper was involved -- that's no longer true.
EXCEPTIONS: Unfortunately, additional back-and-forth trips are required if something abnormal comes up, e.g., the curbside voter has an address change (that will require an indirect interaction thru you between the HT and the voter), or if the Tabulator detects an error (perhaps the voter marked too many entries in a race). You hope such exceptional things never happen, but they may and you will then have to deal with them. Fortunately we will be using the Church's driveway circle/loop for curbside processing. That means it is a very short walk between the voter's car and the inside of the Voting Enclosure.
PACKING UP: Judy will act as our Pack-Up Coordinator to make sure everything is retrieved, properly placed, and checked off correctly. Packing up organizes the complicated job of collecting and placing all the items after poll closing so each item can later be delivered to the right destination. I'm required to deliver some critical items to the New Bethel Church dropoff site in Rolesville by 9:30. If I cannot meet that deadline, I have to take the load to a Raleigh dropoff site, which is about 18 miles away (not a desirable nighttime drive).
CELL PHONES: Please DO NOT USE YOUR CELL PHONE in the voting enclosure. This precludes even just reading things on your phone. Observers and voters will see you no matter how much you try to hide your phone use. You can go outside if you must use your phone. Of course if you are calling or being called by the BOE, that use is permitted.
The Help Table POs will now use their personal cell phones as the HT phone since a cell phone will no longer be provided by the BOE.
READING MATERIAL: Political reading material is NEVER allowed. For this election, given the expected larger voter turnout, the BOE Staff has said you CANNOT bring non-political reading material to read during slack periods. As usual, electronic reading devices such as Kindles, iPads, laptops, etc., are not allowed.
OBSERVERS: It is very likely that we will have Observers in this election. Observers are allowed to talk with you as long as they aren't interfering with your job. However if they start asking about procedures, direct them to me. I'm the one they are supposed to deal with for such discussions.
EMERGENCY LOCATIONS: If we have to evacuate in an emergency, we will gather in the driveway circle's grass area in front. Our "tornado" safe area is down the hall into the main part of the Church administrative area; that's away from windows.
NO ONE CAN LEAVE EARLY: We'll be at Hope Lutheran for at least 14-15 hours and maybe longer if there is a voter line or a problem at poll closing. You cannot leave until we all leave after packing up.
WEATHER: [?????????????]
PARKING: On Tuesday park in the area designated for "Staff and Precinct Officials Parking" as shown in parking.
See layout for the restrooms and kitchen locations mentioned below.
RESTROOMS: The restrooms can be used by Precinct Officials, Observers, and voters (plus their kids and assistants). They CANNOT be used by anyone else, e.g., campaigners. Such people will have to be told to use the facilities elsewhere, e.g., in a grocery store or a fast food place. On the "Red Door" there will be a sign to this effect.
KITCHEN AND FOOD/DRINKS: Bring whatever food and drinks you'll need during the day. The Church "kitchen" shown in the diagram has a microwave and a very small refrigerator we can use.
COFFEE MAKER: For Tuesday I'll bring my Keurig coffee maker together with assorted K-cups and ceramic coffee cups you can use. If you have some preferred flavors, feel free to bring more K-cups.
EATING AREAS: As in last November's election, for our dining area we can use the small room accessed from the alcove by the Help Table. Out in the Voting Enclosure, don't have anything spillable at your station table, e.g., at the Registration Table.