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California: A Report from Precinct 204300 Elections take place in polling places and it is in polling places that an individual informed citizen, concerned about the accuracy and security of the election process, can make a difference. I served proudly as poll inspector for Precinct 204300 in Berkeley (Alameda County), California on November 8th. Alameda County was one of nine counties in the state that used paperless DREs one more time before the requirement for a voter verified paper audit trail goes into effect next year. But my precinct was not entirely paperless. We had a strong turnout given the fact that it was a special election with no candidates - just eight statewide ballot initiatives - and a high number of absentee voters. Official ballots were cast by 323 voters and 31 additional provisional ballots were cast, most by voters who had applied for absentee ballots and either lost or failed to receive them. What made this polling place different from most was that every voter, after signing the roster, was given the option (by me) of voting on an optical scan paper ballot or on a Diebold touch screen machine. This option, available to every California voter in counties that use DREs, came as a surprise to most and the range of responses was informative. Many made their decisions immediately (almost a third chose paper), but many asked questions. Most importantly, every voter was in the precinct was presented with the issue of voting technology. While I was careful to stay factual and not express an opinion one way or another about the two voting options, if a voter asked questions I did provide answers. On a couple occasions voters wanted to know about the status of the Diebold TS and I explained that indeed this was the machine (with the VVPAT printer) that had been de-certified by the Secretary of State of California - for 2006. I also explained to several voters that the paper ballots would be scanned by a machine initially but would be available for later visual examination. As a poll worker I was in a position to act as a safeguard against at least some of the random disenfranchisement that takes place in every election. When voters chose to vote on paper ballots I took the time to explain that they had to fill in the ovals for their choices. Several voters had questions about how to review their ballots on the touchscreen machines and I was able to clarify the process for them. I was responsible for opening the touch screen machines and verifying the zero count printouts before the opening of the polls and posting the results after the closing. I also took the opportunity to conduct a complete hand count of the paper ballots. The hand count didn't reveal anything particularly alarming but it was interesting to me that there were very few undervotes on paper four of the propositions had no undervotes on paper while every proposition had several apparent undervotes on each of the five machines in use. Overall the machines recorded undervotes at more than twice the rate of the paper ballots. There are at least two possible explanations for this phenomenon. Given that every voter was given the option of paper or machines, it is possible that the voters who chose paper were more inclined to distrust the machines because of associating Diebold with Republicans and by extension Gov. Schwarzenegger and they were more likely to be voting specifically to defeat the Governor's initiatives. A more convincing explanation for me, however, is that this was an election made up entirely of ballot initiatives and voters were presented with blocks of text and then given the option of voting yes or no. Perhaps this says something about whether it's easier to read text on paper than on computer screens. Speculation aside, the most important lesson I took away from my experience was the importance of having election integrity activists and citizens informed about the issues surrounding voting technology serving as official poll workers. So often it seems we are unable as individuals to have an impact on the election process. By serving as a poll worker you can make a difference. (See this Article on the VoteTrustUSA site HERE) |