BBV: Guide to Establishing a Poll Watching Group

Hey Gang:

If you are thinking of getting involved; and we all hope many of you will; here is a great document that tells you how to set-up a "Poll Watching Group". This document was written from the experience of a Georgia voting activist, and long-time DUer, who trained and provided Poll Watchers in the Georgia primary. This group was highly successful. Note that not everything that is in this document can be used in every state and this is for the Diebold TS machines only, but a few modifications will make this plan suit your state and any vendor and model of voting machine.

http://www.countthevote.org/pollwatching.htm

but beyond my resources (time) to organize locally. Is there a place where one can see if poll wathching group is organized or being organized in one's community? I'd volunteer, but I can't organize.

Try VerifiedVoting - www.verifiedvoting.org

or

BlackBoxVoting - www.blackboxvoting.org

.....and we can put you in touch with others in your area! :evilgrin:

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/activism.htm

On Edit: Removed offending info!

I posted the original information as something that could be used by others. I pointed one person to places where they could go to volunteer to assist. In no way was this meant to be another commercial for blackboxvoting.org.

It's unfortunate that everytime someone posts with bbv information, it ends up being a commercial for blackboxvoting. I understand that they need money to operate. All of the groups need money to do what they are doing. You don't see verifiedvoting.org or VotersUnite with their hands out all the time.

Hell, VotersUnite has a two person staff who work 12 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. One of us has given up their career to do this full time. The other is retired but doing this instead of enjoying retirement. We could use the money too. We will not be the "stop light, window-washer" of the voting issue.

ask them what they are doing, or if they plan on doing anything. They may let you organize something if not. They also have a membership to tap for live bodies.

For folks who want to get involved in this.

job. We have one person from each party either doing the procedure or monitoring.

poll watching would give another layer of security, if the watchers are fully trained in those procedures.

Get involved while you still can. :evilgrin:

:kick:

It is also a problem that should not be overlooked.

D. Observing at Election Central:

Take notes on all your observations and all responses to questions.

If possible, observe the entire day of operations at the central election office. If the law in your state allows this, insist on it. Log anything out of the ordinary, and log the names of the relevant people.

Ask questions about how absentee ballots and early voting ballots are handled.

Find out who monitors the modem communications coming in from the precincts to the central tally computer. Does someone check the validity of the transmission before allowing it to be received?

Ask if technicians have been required to take the same oath as poll workers to conduct a legal election. Monitor and log calls for assistance the election office receives from the precincts:

1) Which precinct did the call come from?
2) What is the problem?
3) Was a technician dispatched?
4) How is the technician dispatched?
5) Did the technician take replacement machines to the precinct?
6) How long did it take to resolve the problem?

Log the names of all people operating the central tally computer. Observe what each one does, if possible.

As poll workers bring the reports and memory cards back to election center, notice and log:

1) Do HQ Poll workers check the seals when they receive the envelopes containing the reports and the memory cards? What happens to the envelopes? Are they tracked?

2) Do HQ Poll worker register the number of cards indicated in handwriting on the envelope?

3) What happens to the Zero Total Reports and the End of Day Precinct Totals Report inside the envelopes? Are they removed, saved, logged? Are the totals tracked?

4) What happens to the memory cards after the HQ Poll worker breaks the seal? What recording does the HQ Poll Worker do? Are the cards counted (there should be one for every DRE)? By whom? How many times? What happens to the accumulator card containing the precinct totals?

5) Does the HQ poll worker check or verify the serial numbers or any other identifying information on the memory cards?

6) What happens if none of the cards in an envelope contains the accumulated totals? Is the accumulation process performed on a machine at HQ? Are all the cards from the precinct kept together?

7) Observe whether data from "accumulator" cards is uploaded to the central computer. Does someone track which precincts have been transmitted by modem and which are to be uploaded from the cards?

http://www.countthevote.org/pollwatching.htm (at the bottom of the page)

Good work and props to the VotersUnite group!
:yourock:

Election laws for your state can be found here. http://www.lawresearch.com/v2/statute/statstate.htm#elections :)

This work was done by a very dedicated, very hard working Georgia voting activist who has given more than we can ever know to this issue. She's the one who deserves the thank you.

perhaps we could collaborate on a version for Washington and other states using optiscans.

There is a real need for this.

VotersUnite! is just two of us. We are in the lead on the uninspected software issue in Washington state with phone conferences throughout the day. We are assisting with the coordination of a protest/media event outside of the Election Center Conference in DC this week. We are also one of the major players in EM2004 (Emergency Measures 2004)which is demanding paper ballots/hand counted in Nov.

All of this plus we still have "Myth Breakers" that is still being handed out to local elections officials (738 counties to date) and our Daily Voting News email.

We are also available when anyone else needs help with anything. Another project is not possible right now, unfortunately. Ellen and I are both putting in over 16 hours a day/7 days a week. There just isn't enough time.

Thanks for the offer though!

I interviewed another witness today and am in the process of doing a brain dump on it. It may help to finally blow open this whole mess.

BTW tell me more about EM2004
I am intrigued.

www.votersunite.org is where all the information is at. It's on the home page.

.

:kick:

:kick:

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The easiest way to discredit voting activists is to put in phony disrupters who identify themselves as supposed activists.

Therefore: We all need to have a posted code of conduct, clearly visible on our web sites and it needs to be part of everything we give people who are doing poll watching and volunteering.

In the 60s, those in the activist groups will tell you: The cheapest, quickest, most effective way to throw dirt on your group is for someone from the other side to act like an asshole and identify themselves as part of your group.

We should take proactive steps, to distance ourselves from such tactics.

Obviously, the most important thing any volunteer can do is to make sure the election runs smoothly and according to the law.

Bev Harris

P.S. VotersUnite.org is the bomb. I refer people to your site all the time! I also mentioned you guys to Jim DeFede of the Miami Herald, and was delighted that he mentioned you as well as VerifiedVoting.org.

Had a wonderful meeting with Will Doherty of VerifiedVoting.org, by the way.

Kudos to all, and to all a good night.