* *** COMMENTS_ON_2020.V.2_DOCUMENTS TXT - 8 Sep 2020 00:28:23 - JKNAUTH The first section below contains some new comments (now that I have a hardcopy Manual to review). "$$$$$$$$" flags the most significant. The 2021 version should handle the rest, which are just editorial. The second section has comments I submitted on 8/25/20 and to which Laura Russell responded on the same day. 2020 General Election Manual ---- ------- -------- ------ Page 9: Under Open we are told to seal all the boxes. Elsewhere $$$$$$$$ (page 26 of CWN FAQs) we have been told to seal only the full boxes. The last box may have only a few ballots in it and should be left unsealed so more ballots can be put in it. Otherwise we tend to run out of boxes at the end of the day. The CJ class should cover this. Page 12: BOE Warehouse -> BOE Operations Center (that gets it caught up with page 16, bullet 6) (the Warehouse, at least on Atlantic Ave., is no more) Page 27: Update the picture to show the QuikStix type of vinyl sign. Are the old wire frame signs used anywhere by the BOE now? Page 32: In the first paragraph about who is in the pollbook, add "who have not yet voted in this election". Page ?? (somewhere in the BT section): The Ballot Table QG lists a scenario which is not covered in the Manual: A voter decides not to vote AFTER getting an ATV, but BEFORE getting a ballot. In the QG it is covered under "Spoiled ATVs and Ballots". Maybe the Manual could change the "Spoiled Ballots" title along the same lines and the missing scenario could be handled there. Page 61: Under "Can a voter request an Official (to) insert their $$$$$$$$ ballot into the Tabulator" The answer given is "No." That seems strange. After all, for curbside processing an official (CJ or Judge) is required to do this insertion for the voter. Moreover in the Voter Assistance QG, it's made clear that a voter can request assistance from any Precinct Official, e.g., to mark a ballot, which is about as trusting as you can get. Suppose some voter has used the AutoMARK because he or she cannot hold a pen or ballot. Does the above "No" mean that a Precinct Official cannot assist such a voter by carrying the ballot to the Tabulator and inserting it while the voter watches? I recall that five or six years ago we had someone use the AutoMARK because his hands had been burned so badly in an accident that he could not hold a pen. This FAQ was added in the March 2020 Manual; it had not been in previous versions. I missed seeing it in the March Manual or I would have commented then. Page 63: Item 5: Sign Section B -> Sign and date Section B Item 8: first bullet: Add "but doesn't number the ATV yet" Item 14: Judge to place -> Judge to check the ATV and then place Page 103: Item 4: I think this should be reworded to note that it is undesirable to split letters across pollbooks (and thus possibly across RT Officials), but it can be done if you have no other choice. General: I wish the BOE had punched three-ring-binder holes in all the documentation (particularly the Manual) instead of only in some of the documents. Using a 3/8" drill to hole-ize the Manual is a pain, but I had to do it. I keep all the documents in a binder; otherwise it's easy to lose things, particularly on Election Day where I have to cover a lot of territory and do tend to misplace things regularly. General: The Registration Table QG color was changed from a light green to a dark green in this version. I think that will be a lot harder for many people (particularly us older people) to read the black type on a dark green background, especially in poor lighting conditions. Some of the polling places I have worked at do have such poor lighting. Fortunately my current polling place is well lit. Next year I hope you go back to using light green. General: There was no Help Table QG in the hardcopy package I received ??????? recently. The package had the Manual and the RT, BT, VA, and AO QGs. Was the HT QG supposed to be in that package? I recall in a couple of CJ classes over the years they did not include the HT QG in the package given out at the door and had to distribute it separately in the class. Anyway, I'm using the HT QG I printed from the website. I signed up for a Help Table class, but have received no hardcopy documents for it so far. Will I get any hardcopy class material, e.g., maybe including the HT QG? When Spencer signed me up for the HT class, he did give me access to the "Help Table Exercises" online module, which I will be trying out in a few days. Manual and Quick Guide Comments Made on 8/25/20 ------ --- ----- ----- -------- ---- -- ------- 1) The Manual says the Acknowledgement Notice is no longer used, yet both flowcharts in the Help Table Quick Guide still require it (footnote #1 in each case). Laura's response: Thank you for pointing these out. On your first point, that was an oversight on our part. We will be addressing this in class and in the Late-Breaking News. So good riddance to the Acknowledgement Notice. 2) In the March 2020 election we were told that we should not remove campaign signs when we cleaned up on Tuesday night. The 2020.v.1 documentation explicitly said this in several places. That text has been removed in 2020.v.2, but there is nothing in "What's New" to say this has been changed. Are we now back to pre-March-2020, i.e., we should remove campaign signs? Laura's response: For your second point, if your polling place expects abandoned campaign signs to be collected, you may have your Officials place them in a designated area, but do not discard them. Otherwise, leave abandoned campaign signs for campaigners to collect. We will review this in Chief Judge class. It sounds like we will go back to our old system of collecting any campaign signs abandoned on the school's property and stacking them by the door, per our previous agreement with the school. That should be no problem; usually the campaigners at our polling place are conscientious and there are not too many abandoned signs. We just want to follow whatever the latest guidelines/laws require. However, the CJ class should make very clear whether the SCHOOL can then discard the collected, abandoned signs. If they cannot discard the signs, who is responsible for communicating that to the school? Jeff