    
christine c reid
Frequent Voting Rights Forum Participant
Username: Ctwatcher
Post Number: 988
Registered: 12-2007
Best of Black Box? 
Votes: 1 | | Posted on Monday, September 15, 2008 - 6:43 am: | |
OK, here is the document quoted in the link just above, but in its entirety. It is possible that other ES&S machines may have characteristics that overlap the problems that Sacramento County, CA had with the M100 (an optical scanner that reads voters' marked choices).
The document is also an excellent model for troubleshooting -- see how they thought through the possible source of the issue, confirmed or eliminated them, and then worked to a multifaceted permanent resolution. The county understands pretty exactly how the problem occurred, and they address every single angle of it they can think of.
Note also that the vendor didn't necessarily just come in and save the day. The election staff had to roll up their sleeves and engage with the problem, not just hold out their arms and say, "Help, I'm drowning in a technical problem."
ONe can always find things they didn't do, but they DID do a great deal here. I asked Jill LaVine if I could post this document because I think ultimately, it will be very helpful to some other election official, at some time. (Only example I know of where officials said it helped: New Bedford, MA, September 08).
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SACRAMENTO COUNTY: M100 ballot rejection troubleshooting explanation