Re: Arapahoe County Election Judges Needed

["Scott A. Morris" <samorris@xxxxxxxxxx>]

My apologies for getting this out so late.

If anyone is still interested in being an election judge for the Tracy 
Baker recall election this Tuesday, Arapahoe County is still about 100 
judges short as of this afternoon, but you'll need to attend either 
the 3:30pm or 6:30pm training class tomorrow.  The person to talk to 
is "Merry", 303-795-4655, and if anyone heading down Tuesday could use 
a ride, shoot me an email.

They're not using Diebold DREs for this election as previously 
reported, instead they're using Sequoia's AVC Advantage DRE:

   http://www.sequoiavote.com/productguide.php?product=AVC%20Advantage&type=Introduction

The training class this afternoon glossed over the more interesting 
issues, but in addition to transparency problems common to DRE 
systems, this one has a somewhat quirky user interface, including 
atleast one "dead end" the user can wander into that can't be 
recovered from [1], and some privacy issues for people wishing to cast 
a completely blank ballot [2].

While its not Hart Intercivic or Diebold, if anyone has the time and 
is interested in seeing another one of the vendors' DRE systems in 
use, this might be a good oppurtunity, since voter turnout could be 
very low.

cheers
-- Scott

---
Scott A. Morris <samorris@xxxxxxxxxx>
303-596-8937 http://www.jomche.org/~samorris


[1] When typing in the name of a write-in candidate, the system 
    allows the name to be corrected up until the voter hits the 
    "enter" key on the keypad, after which the name of the write-in 
    candidate cannot be changed.  Before hiting the "Cast Ballot" 
    button, the voter can still unselect the choice of the write-in 
    candidate and select another one of the listed candidates, but 
    according the the Sequoia rep who gave today's class, there is no 
    way to specify another name for the write-in candidate, and there 
    is no way to "reset" the session so that the user could start 
    over.

[2] The system allows voters to select, and unselect their votes for 
    individual questions, but in order to cast a completely
    blank ballot, an election judge must be summoned, the back panel 
    of the system to be unlocked (retrieving the key from an envelope  
    that is supposed to be sealed at that point), and the magic "Print 
    More" button pressed.  
    
    While some people may choose to cast a blank ballot as a form of 
    civil disobedience, and might appreciate the attention this 
    process would draw, other people may simply object to all the 
    candidates in each race.  While not likely for Tuesday (since 
    the first question is "Yes" or "No", this is very possible in 
    other single issue races such as the January 6th special election 
    to fill Rep.  Connie Mack's seat (Florida State House District 
    91), where Democratic voters may have shown up, signed in, and 
    entered the poll booth before they realized all seven names on the 
    ballot were Republicans.