Blackboxvoting.Org: Instructions For Election Day
Election Day - Please forward as appropriate.
Click here for Nov. 8 election trouble reports: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/8/114.html
Did you vote today? Are you going to observe the tallying tonight? How did the voting machines work?
Click here to discuss the election and/or file reports:
You can post comments in any forum - first timers, after you get to forums, just click "register" at left, follow
instructions, and you're in!
Observations: After the polls close, there are several things we'd you to observe, if you can.
1) Poll closing activities - simply write down the process (and any deviations from it)
2) CENTRAL TABULATOR - each jurisdiction has one location where they add up all the votes from various polling places.
They start tallying up just as the polls close. Under the law, observers are allowed in almost all jurisdictions.
Become a "human audit log" -- write down the names, times, machine numbers, precinct locations etc for each anomaly.
3) Depot locations: Large jurisdictions often bring materials from polling places to intermediary locations for
transmittal to headquarters. Again, observation is permitted in these depots in almost all jurisdictions, but very
little observation has been done.
4) Any and all handling of memory cards (credit-card sized electronic ballot boxes). Observe and ask questions about
chain of custody.
5) Behavior of political party observers: Are they alert? Are they watching for the right things? Do they understand
points of vulnerability?
Try to avoid the very strong temptation to become chatty with other observers or public officials. Watch for and record
small anomalies. Almost all of the events will be humdrum and boring, but tiny observations can be significant, so avoid
the temptation to leave early after a general glance at things. You will find elections activities to be well organized,
and the people working there will usually be quite nice. Record the procedures and the explanations, but do not take
them at face value. Many elections workers are surprisingly unsophisticated about attack trees or failure points.
MATERIALS TO BRING WITH YOU ON OBSERVATIONS;
1. Notebook and writing implement
2. Binoculars (so you can read computer screens)
3. Video camera
4. Cell phone
Note on trouble reports: Most problems are not apparent during the election, but appear on election night during
tallying and during the week following the election, when canvassing (auditing) is performed.
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