Lost my "auditing an election 101" from Andy. Anyone have a copy?

[Carolab]

On edit, never mind, I found it:

The following document contains Andy's course notes for the class he gave at the CASE-Ohio "Teach-In" on May 7, 2005. This course basically contains the complete instructions for auditing an election conducted on a Diebold Optical Scan system, however Andy said that most of these instructions could also apply to ES & S or other vendors' equipment.


AUDITING YOUR ELECTION 101
by Andy Stephenson

What does that mean when I say "audit an election"? Well, an
election audit looks at the election results to ensure that all proper
procedures were followed, and that the votes were recorded correctly.
In an audit, you can see if any votes are missing, or if any votes
have been tampered with. While you're auditing, you will need to
look at every document that the system produces, from the audit log, to
the poll tapes, to the numerous reports that are generated during the
election. It may sound like a difficult process to audit an election,
but really it's quite simple. It comes down to following certain
procedures, gathering the right materials, and taking good inventory
of your records. It's a methodical and detail oriented task that
takes some time and energy, but other than that, it's not that
hard to manage. By the time you leave here today, you will have all
the tools you need in order to audit your local election successfully.


Part One: Background information regarding electronic voting and
terminology.

Electronic voting occurs in nearly every state to some degree. This
might not be directly evident when you visit your polling site. Most
ballots are counted electronically, whether the votes were cast on a
touch screen computer or on paper ballots.

Election night procedure:

Once the polls have closed, paper ballots are collected and then
counted with an optical scan machine. The optical scan machine then
records all of the data onto a memory card. Absentee ballots are also
recorded on separate memory cards. The memory cards are then
delivered by hand to the central tabulator, or the data is uploaded
remotely into the tabulator by modem. Then reports and vote totals
are generated, and sent to the canvassing board. The canvassing board
is a group of about 5-13 appointed members, who service the election.
The canvassing board then certifies the results of the election, and
makes them official.

Terminology:

There are a number of terms that I will be referring to in today's
presentation regarding voting equipment, and voting reports. Here
I'll give you a brief explanation of some of these terms.


Voting Equipment:

GEMS: Global Elections Management System. "GEMS is a state of the
art election management software package that runs on Microsoft's
Windows operating system." (let me editorialize a bit
here...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

Unity Election System. This is the central tabulator software. ES&S
product

The ES&S Model 100 is a precinct-based, voter-activated paper ballot
counter and vote tabulator. Utilizing advanced Intelligent Mark
Recognition (IMR) visible light scanning technology, the Model 100 is
a proven mainstay for jurisdictions worldwide utilizing precinct-level
voting and tabulation.

The AccuVote-OS Tabulator: The tabulator is a multi-functional
terminal that counts and tabulates the ballots at precincts on
election day and communicates with the host computer at Election
Central for accurate and timely jurisdiction-wide results.

Voting Reports:

Statement of votes cast (SOVC): It is a breakdown by precinct of
the number of votes cast in each race in every election.

Audit Log: is equivalent to the "black box" on an
aircraft. It contains everything that happens in the voting system,
and tracks the times and dates of all activity that takes place within
the GEMS server.

Modem Log: Records the dates and times that any external
communications commenced with the server.

Windows Event Log: Shows if any changes or patches were made to
Windows, which could affect the operations of voting software.

Poll Tape: A printout, similar to a cash register receipt. Zero
tapes are printed before the election, showing zero votes on the
machine, and at the end of the election, the tape is run again to show
the results of each race in the election. Zero tape and poll tape is
signed by elections workers after they are run.

Interim Report: A report printed each hour on the hour during
election night, that shows the breakdown of votes cast in each
precinct. These are usually timed and dated stamped automatically.
Printing of this report will create an entry in the audit log.

Part Two: Overview of the public records disclosure laws'

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)/Public Records Request: State and
Federal laws that you will use to obtain the documents you need for an
audit.

Background info. on FOIA:

What to ask for in your public records request:
1.Zero tapes and poll tapes, date and time stamped, from the precinct you are auditing.
2.Statement of votes cast
3.Modem logs
4.Audit logs: from two weeks prior to the election, to two weeks after
5.Windows event log
6.Names of all poll workers
7."Key" log and names of everyone who had access to the central tabulator
8.Names of all pollworkers
9.Copies of all "trouble tickets": any recorded
malfunctions, reported by pollworkers.
10.Copies of absentee totals and provisional totals
11.Copies of all e-mail and correspondence between elections office and hardware/software vendors, and their contractors.
12.Certification documents for the AccuVote and certification documents for the GEMS software being used in the county.
13.Lists of all precincts
14.Absentee and provisional reports. (Call Susan T. to get details)

Overview of public records disclosure laws, including Ohio statute.
Also, an example of public records request. And a review of the FOIA,
its guidelines and processes.

Part Three: Auditing the Election

Steps:

1. Inventory the materials obtained from your public records
request/(FOIA). Look to see if anything is missing. Any missing
materials are most likely your most important ones. Look at the audit
logs for any gaps or lapses in time. Check poll tape totals against
the statement of votes cast. Check the statement of votes cast against
the interim reports. Check poll tapes against the interim reports.
Regarding interim reports, they can be obtained through FOIA, but it
is best to obtain one from the central tabulator on election night.
That way it establishes a benchmark, and if any changes take place
later in the process, you will have a document to compare to. Also,
look at the modem log to ensure that the modem was functioning
properly on election night. Look at the trouble tickets to see what
kind of problems were encountered on election night. Pay particular
attention to hardware issues such as modem errors, memory card
failures, and transmission problems. Transmission and hardware
failures will appear on the audit logs and modem logs.

Note any and all discrepancies.

2.Find errors, make a list of the problems that you found. Present
this information to the candidate you are working for, and recommend
further action. This action includes investigation of precincts where
anomalies have been found, and a hand recount of the ballots from the

3.This is people intensive and you MUST organize groups now to train .
You are going to need people in every precinct and at a minimum 5
people watching at central count on election night. Take binoculars.
Pen Paper ASK questions don’t be afraid. Take note...ask the names of
people working on the central count computer. Become a poll worker,
go through the training so you will be able to teach others what the
procedures are. in the event you need them, have lawyers ready to
file injunctions and lawsuits. Find lawyers you can work with locally
that will work for costs only. They are out there.

[demodonkey]

1. Here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=384082