Arizona

Democratic Party

 

 

Election Integrity Manual

for

County Chairs

 

 

Copyright © 2007 M. A. Duniho

Licensed to the public under the terms

of the Gnu free documentation license

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html

Please send comments to Michael A. Duniho

Solutions Arizona LLC

1590 N Saddleback Ave

Tucson, AZ 85715

Phone 520-731-3157

Fax 520-731-3197

Email maduniho@cox.net

 


Arizona Democratic Party

Election Integrity Manual for County Chairs

 

Table of Contents

Chapter                                                                                                                                  

  1. Introduction to Election Systems                                                                                
    1. Components of the elections process

                                                        i.     Voter registration

                                                      ii.     Voter ID

                                                    iii.     Casting the ballot

                                                    iv.     Counting the vote

    1. Party roles and election integrity structure
    2. Risk assessment
  2. Breaches of Election Integrity                                                                        
    1. Bureaucratic problems

                                                    i.     Inadequate physical security

                                                  ii.     Inadequate bookkeeping

                                                iii.     Inadequately trained poll workers

                                                iv.     Lack of transparency

    1. System failures

                                                    i.     Registration errors

                                                  ii.     Ballot errors

                                                iii.     Early voting problems

                                                iv.     Polling place problems

                                                  v.     Counting problems

    1. Vintage intentional methods

                                                    i.     Deny poor people the opportunity to register

                                                  ii.     Purge valid voters from the registration rolls

                                                iii.     Direct voters to the wrong polling places

                                                iv.     Require ID at the polls

                                                  v.     Prepare false early ballot entries

                                                vi.     Stuff the ballot box at the polls

                                              vii.     Render valid ballots unreadable or unacceptable

                                            viii.     Replace batches of valid ballots with fake ones

    1. Modern technological intentional methods

                                                    i.     Program computer to count incorrectly

                                                  ii.     Change the totals in the computer after scanning ballots

                                                iii.     Report fraudulent results from polling places

  1. Your rights and responsibilities                                                                                 
    1. Statutory rights and responsibilities

                                                    i.     Review voter registration lists

                                                  ii.     Conduct logic and accuracy tests

                                                iii.     Appoint Election Board members

                                                iv.     Appoint observers to watch every step of ballot processing

                                                  v.     Randomly select precincts and races to be audited

                                                vi.     Appoint audit workers to hand count some of the ballots

                                              vii.     Supervise the audit

    1. Actions not legally specified but desirable and useful

                                                    i.     Obtain copies of computer logs, election department reports, databases

                                                  ii.     Analyze all the data collected by observers and from the Elections Department

                                                iii.     Ask questions about any procedure that seems incorrect or insecure

  1. People involved in ensuring election integrity                                                           
    1. Election Boards-paid employees of the County elections department

                                                    i.     Accuracy Certification Board

                                                  ii.     Poll workers-Inspectors, Marshals, Judges, Clerks

                                                iii.     Early Boards

                                                iv.     Duplication Boards

                                                  v.     Receiving Boards

                                                vi.     Inspection Boards

                                              vii.     Provisional Boards

                                            viii.     Write-in Boards

                                                 ix.     Audit Board

    1. Election Observers – for every Board
    2. Other election integrity people

                                                    i.     Recruiters

                                                  ii.     Coordinators

                                                iii.     Planners

                                                iv.     Liaisons

                                                  v.     Researchers

  1. Ensuring election integrity at the polls
    1. Voters rights and likely problems
    2. Poll watchers’ limitations
    3. Getting help
    4. Recruiting and training poll watchers                                                                        
  2. Ensuring election security                                                                                          
    1. Security of ballots

                                                    i.     Accounting for ballots printed and delivered to the County

                                                  ii.     Accounting for ballots used

                                                iii.     Accounting for ballots not used

                                                iv.     Transporting ballots from one location to another

                                                  v.     Other chain of custody issues

                                                vi.     Tamper-revealing seals

    1. Security of election machines

                                                    i.     Physical Security

                                                  ii.     Checking the software on the election machines

    1. Security of the central count system

                                                    i.     Early ballot counting computer security

                                                  ii.     Computer audit logs

                                                iii.     Security camera monitoring and logs

                                                iv.     Party observers’ role in maintaining security

    1. Security of vote-total reports printed before the end of Election Day

                                                    i.     Being alert to anything and everything coming out of the printer

                                                  ii.     Sealing early reports and recording seal numbers

                                                iii.     Checking all seal numbers after Election Day

    1. Security of the audit

                                                    i.     Sealing early ballots selected for audit and recording seal numbers

                                                  ii.     Checking all seals after Election Day

                                                iii.     Precinct-level report of votes BEFORE selection of precincts for audit

                                                iv.     Selecting the precincts and races to be audited

                                                  v.   &nbs