Post on 14-Dec-2015
transcript
Tips for Registrars
BE PREPARED
IF A DISTRICT IN YOUR TOWN IS SELECTED
IF A DISTRICT IN YOUR TOWN IS SELECTED… cont.
• Security of ballots and verification of seals• Do you have ALL your machine-counted ballots?• Swear in workers.• Set-up your audit site—adequate space, light.• Use 4-person teams, balanced by party affiliation
or with unaffiliated workers—1 reader, 1 observer, 2 hash-markers.
• Brief your workers on their jobs. Answer questions
• Security of ballots and verification of seals• Do you have ALL your machine-counted ballots?• Swear in workers.• Set-up your audit site—adequate space, light.• Use 4-person teams, balanced by party affiliation
or with unaffiliated workers—1 reader, 1 observer, 2 hash-markers.
• Brief your workers on their jobs. Answer questions
Audit Day…cont.
• Transfer each team’s totals, by candidate, onto master worksheet.
• Registrars add other teams’ results and compare with the tabulator tape.
• Registrars record & describe any candidate votes that are “questionable” on the SOTS Audit Report in Column E.
Handling DiscrepanciesGeneral concepts
Re-check most recent tabulation.•Math errors• Hashmark totals• Questionable votes
Recount if necessary.• Switch readers• Use fresh worksheets.
Questionable Ballots
• Machine reads many votes correctly if bubble partially filled, circled, or X’ed.
• When in doubt, add to Column E and describe. These votes may explain your discrepancies.
• Count 1 vote—Party Unknown—for Cross-endorsed candidates if both ovals filled.
• True overvotes are not counted by machine.
Use “blind counting” when you count or recount any race.
Smaller batches of ballots are easier to count and reconcile.
Do not make any marks on the ballot.Don’t move on to next step in tabulating
totals until previous calculations are reconciled.
Your role is to supervise and solve problems, not to count.
Wethersfield Procedures• Registrars pick up the ballots for selected
District(s) . Make sure you have all the ballots that went through the machine. Keep ballots under supervision at all times.
• Compare seal numbers on the ballot bag to the Moderators return—should be in ballot bag.
• Teams of three: one reader, one hash marker, and one to check on both.
Wethersfield cont.• The ballots are viewed one by one and placed in
two piles: one that the machine could read and second that the machine maybe didn’t read.
• Count and batch ballots into piles of 25.• Verify total against the tape from election night.• Then the hand count of each pile begins. Sticky
note on each pile for number 1 etc. and the breakdown is placed on top of each pile secured with a paper clip.
Wethersfield cont. • Each table does its count. If there are any
discrepancies, a different table does the second count. Continue until all ballots are accounted for against the tape.
• Complete the SOTS form totally and attach a duplicate tape from election night. If it does not balance with the protocol, you count again until there is a correct count. If you cannot explain differences you must report to SOTS.
Wethersfield cont. • All ballots are resealed into the containers
and returned to the locked storage, by both registrars.
• Reminder: Observers are allowed and encouraged to see the whole process but not to interfere.
Party Line Ballots• Many medium size to large cities
will have voters that tend to vote party lines
• 2 people working together
• Put all ballots in same direction –
• look at each ballot to see if it is a straight line voting ballot & able to be counted by the Tabulator
Put top line straight voted ballots in one pile (Republicans)
Put next line straight voted ballots in one pile (Democrats)
Put all other ballots that do not fit any straight line voting in the last pile
Take each pile and count ballots in groups of “10“
crises crossing ballots in each pile
Record number on sticky on top of ballot piles
Verify number of ballots
Record numbers for each candidate on the Republican line from the sticky on that pile
Record number for each candidate on the Democratic line from the sticky on that pile
Now the two of you must do the third pile together
One reads – one records
By counting by the 10’s we find it easier to find one’s counting errors
By separating the ballots by voting lines - you save time in
reading each ballot
Many counters eyes get very tired & errors occur when counting large numbers of ballots
If you can use observers to watch the process – they sometimes will see errors that counters or recorders make when getting tired
Try not to go over 4 hours – the adult learning ability is at it’s maximum at 4 hours
If you are doing multiple counting groups in the same room – it is nice when everyone is doing the same procedure.
But remember that not all people can do every
procedure they may have a style
themselves & they should try it.