PROPOSED PROTOCOL FOR KPFA LSB ELECTION 2009 BALLOT COUNTING PART II – Scanning Barcodes and Ballots

PROPOSED PROTOCOL FOR KPFA LSB ELECTION 2009 BALLOT COUNTING PART II – Scanning Barcodes and Ballots

Staff Election - Tuesday October 20 - 7 pm in Performance Studio at KPFA
Listener Election – Saturday October 24 (3 pm) & Sunday October 25th (as needed) at Bay Area Alternative Press (BAAP)

Note: Candidates are welcome to witness but may NEVER touch ballots.

The following is an outline of the suggested protocol for scanning ballot barcodes and scanning the barcodes themselves. All feedback is greatly appreciated. The objective is to provide a theoretical guide in order to facilitate the organization of the ballot counting process.

STEP 1: Preliminary Check that all Ballot Boxes are Intact, Recount and Resorting
- All participants will sign in at the door.

- When at least 2 witnesses are present we will check that the boxes packaged on Saturday October 18th are sealed and signed. Then we will open and verify the contents (written on the outside of the box).

- For staff there are 2 boxes (rejected ballot box with 3 ballots, valid good quality staff ballot box with 141 ballots, envelop with 32 poor quality ballots which require the transfer to new ballots before scanning)
- For listeners there are 6 boxes (5 boxes with valid ballots, 595, 610, 347, 543, 800, 1 problem ballot box, 66 total). For listener ballots we did not separate out ballots of poor quality which will require transfer to new ballots. The problem ballot box includes mainly ballots which lack a barcode, are written in red ink or ink of another color)

- For staff we will move on directly to step 3 as all barcodes have already been scanned.

STEP 2: Barcode Scanning

- All listener ballot barcodes will be scanned including those in the problem ballot box which have barcodes (those in red ink).
- The rejected ballots will be cross checked with the list of “live” listener barcodes to make sure that they were not wrongfully rejected.
- As ballots are scanned and found to be eligible votes, we will separate out the ballots of poor quality that require the transfer to a new ballot.
- A “Poor Quality Ballot: Red ink (or other color, not blue, black or pencil), Crosses or checks instead of filled in boxes, Entry mistakes requiring interpretation, and other markings which may affect legibility

- STEP 3 and STEP 4 can be done at the same time to speed up the process.

STEP 3: Poor Quality Ballot Vote Transfer

- For ballots of poor quality, with at least 2 witnesses representing different parties of interest we will transfer individual rankings to new ballots in order to process them.
- For staff - one person (the LES) will transfer information from the original ballot to the replacement ballot.
- For listeners, as we have many more poor quality ballots, we will have 3 people doing the transfer; one of these people will be the LES. All three will sit at the same table together with witnesses and 3 separate log sheets
- All ballots requiring interpretation will be discussed and the resulting interpretation will reflect the input of parties. In the event that there is a real division - the local election supervisor will make the call and this may be to not use the ballot.
- Each ballot which undergoes this process will be marked with a series code in this format, O (for Original) or R for Replacement), a number to document the sequence (1 to X, integers in BLACK INK, lower RIGHT corner) and the initials of the person doing the transfer. - A log of the process will be kept (hardcopy). Each log entry will document the series code (NOT the barcode) and the witnesses present. For the listener ballot log we will also keep track of time in the form of sessions as the process will be a lot lengthier. If a ballot was rejected as no interpretation was possible, then this will be noted. - After all poor quality ballots have been transferred to new copies - we will scan the replacements.

STEP 4: Ballot Scanning, Sorting & Trouble-shooting, Computer Software Processing

- Accepted Ballots (with a “live” barcode”, originals in good condition or replacements) will be scanned into the computer one by one.

- Every ballot (good quality originals and replacements) will be marked BEFORE SCANNING with a serial code to be able to track processing. The serial code format will be as such: O (for Original), a number to document the sequence (1 to X, integers in BLACK INK, lower LEFT corner) and the initials of the person assisting the person responsible for feeding the scanner (they can be one in the same. If there are two scanners (we hope), then the code will include an additional number (1 or 2 for scanner number 1 or 2)

- The computer software will then translate the images into numbers corresponding to the ranking on each ballot.

- The rankings will be used to compute the results based on the single transferable vote calculation.
- After all ballots have been processed the original ballots and replacement ballots (stapled together lower left corner) will be kept together in the order that they were scanned order, sealed and signed in a box together with the original copy of the transfer log. The log will be photocopied before sealed into the box in order to create an electronic file for purposes of transparency.

All raw scanned data will be available to any participant after everything has been processed.