General Comments

There are concepts in the Quick Start Management Guides on these same topics that include information that is not included in the Chapters.  It was my understanding that the Quick Start Guides are a summary of the Chapters.  If my understanding is correct, the information in the Quick Start Guides should derive from the appropriate Chapter.  Examples of information in a Quick Start Guide that does not appear to be included in the Chapter with the same name are: (1) the suggestion in the Quick Start Guide on Accessibility to assign at least one pollworker with the responsibility for assuring that all accessibility aids are present (page 7 – 1^st bullet); (2) the suggestion in the Quick Start Guide on Elections Office Administration to have disaster and continuity planning tools and procedures in place (page 3 – 3^rd bullet); and (3) the suggestion in the Quick Start Guide on Technology in Elections to use project management software (page 3 – 1^st bullet under Technology in Voting). 

If the Quick Start Guides are a summary of the Chapter of the same name, the chapters should be reviewed by the appropriate boards before the Quick Start Guide for that chapter is published.  By issuing the summary before comments have been provided on the chapter on which the summary is based, it sends the message to the reviewers that this is a pro forma review or if substantive changes are required, it means that the summary might have to be rewritten and republished if substantive changes are required. 

Technology In Elections - pg. 7, paragraph 2, last sentence - substitute the word "offices" for the word "elections" in the phrase "which elections are on the ballot".

It might be worth mentioning here that many jurisdictions are simply using digitized documents such as applications for voter registration to verify signatures as opposed to sophisticated software packages that read, scan and sort.

pg. 10, paragraph 2 under Electronic Poll Books, last sentence - substitute the word "cast" for the word "casted" in the phrase "having casted a ballot".

pg. 11, paragraph 1, last sentance - the sentence is a bit confusing to me.  I would suggest substituting the phrase "eliminate the common problem of crediting someone else with the same or similar name for voting by mistake" with "eliminate the common problem of givnig credit for voting by mistake to a voter with the same or similar name".

Also, it should be noted in this section that many jurisdictions are adding bar code scanners  to electronic poll books as peripherals to scan driver's licenses and ID cards just as some are using card swiping devices.

Elections Office Administration Chapter

Page 16 – Under “Preparing for an Election” subheading, should “expected” (in the last line of the 1^st paragraph) be “unexpected”?

Suggest adding under “Managing Internal Processes” a reference to state’s law that governs access to public information.  Election officials need to know what information is public information and what information they can protect under their states’ public information act.

Technology in Elections Chapter

Page 5 – Suggest providing additional information about a Content Management System.  I’m not familiar with the system, and after reading this section, I do not feel that I have an understanding of what it is.  If this is similar to project management software, perhaps that reference could be made.

Page 6 – Under “Internet” subheading, suggest adding reference to posting information in an accessible format as something to keep in mind when designing web-based information systems and add a footnote referencing the Accessibility Chapter.

Page 10-11 – Under “Electronic Poll Books,” highlight some of the benefits of electronic pollbooks.  For example, data from electronic pollbooks can help election officials collect data (i.e., peak voting, length of time to check in voter) and plan based on actual data, not anecdotal information.   While its primary purpose is a check-in tool, the benefits are significant and widespread.

Page 11 – Under “Voting Systems,” clarify that acceptance testing is just one of the tests that should be performed on a voting system.  If the EAC does not want to reference other examples (testing once ballots are loaded, post-election testing, etc.), the chapter should, at a minimum, mention that there other tests performed on the voting system.

Page 12 – Under “Cost and Replacement,” suggest providing a website where a sample STOP manual can be found.

Pg. 36 The example in box of Vermont Mobile Polling Project, the hyperlink at the end of the paragraph should be in blue and underlined.

The chapter on Technology in Elections makes several favorable references to the return of voted ballots in electronic form via the Internet.  Not one of these references acknowledges the clear lack of consensus on the security of this method of voting, most recently evidenced in the debate surrounding the EAC's consideration of the Draft UOCAVA Pilot Program Testing Requirements.  Each of the chapter's references to Internet voting should be supplemented with a statement that the EAC has not adopted voluntary standards or guidelines for Internet voting and that expert reports, two of which were commissioned by the EAC, have raised serious concerns about its security.  The two EAC-commissioned reports are A Threat Analysis on UOCAVA Voting Systems prepared by NIST and the Election Operations Assessment: Threat Trees and Matrices and Threat Instance Risk Analyzer (TIRA) .

Accessibility Chapter

Suggest adding reference to federal funds available under HAVA to improve access by voters with disabilities and encourage local elections officials to contact their state election office for information on how to access these funds.

Page 27 – The 1^st sentence in the last paragraph (“Poll workers do not always understand when and how they can do to provide . . .”) needs clarification. 

Page 33 – Remove from the image of signs the signs for information and no cell phone use.  These signs do not relate to the text discussing navigational signs.