Why there is always at least one pollworker that doesn’t return the data cartridge.

by Christopher Wilson
(October 6th, 2006)

Any county that uses either optical scan or DREs knows that you almost always have one or more pollworkers that don’t return the data cartridges.  This certainly was true for Franklin County Ohio where I worked.  Franklin had been a DRE (but not touchscreen) user since the early 1990s, and this happened back then as well.

 This problem is what I call the “Last Mile” problem. Here you almost have the night wrapped up and are ready to leave for the evening.  You may have 99.5% of the vote in, but somehow there is at least one cartridge that cannot be accounted for.  I want to explore why this happens and what you can do to try to improve your turn-in response.

 In training pollworkers you might cover this ad nauseam, but still there is someone there that doesn’t get the message. In some cases, pollworkers end the evening and simply leave the building—with voting machines behind.  In other cases, they remove the cartridge but drive home forgetting to turn it in.  We had cases, too, in which the pollworkers decided to go out and have a nice long dinner before returning the cartridges!

 The truth is that whenever you hire large numbers of people from the community you will have this problem.  Other than a technical solution (such as a city-wide wireless network), there is no human solution to this.  You solve mathematical problems, but you manage human problems.  This is not to say that you can’t improve your return rate of cartridges.  But it does suggest that you cannot expect 100% turn-in election after election.  As a long time college teacher I can attest to the fact that there is always one student that will turn work in late claiming they didn’t know the deadline or giving some other excuse.  Even if you have covered it in class and in writing—even saying that late papers are not accepted—it will still happen.  It never fails.

 Let’s turn our attention to some of the ways that you can improve your pollworker turn-in rate.   

1. Pollworker training issues:  When you are conducting pollworker training you have a lot of ground to cover these days.  In fact, there is so much new information out there that many long time pollworkers are hanging up their service.  In your training you must constantly stress that cartridges MUST be returned prompted after closing the polls.  You might have to go so far as to have them write this down and turn it in, or sign their name next to some statement that they will turn them in. Be sure that your pollworkers hear this about 3 or more time in any training session.   You can’t stress it so much that other information gets ignored, but you must make sure that you avoid anyone ever saying that they “didn’t hear that.”
   

2. Tell them that they will NOT be hired again if they fail to turn in their cartridges.  Also explain to them that law enforcement will show up at their home in the event that a cartridge is not turned in.  You have to explain both the importance of turning them in as well as the consequences of not turning them in.
   

3. At the end of the night when they are closing the polls there is usually a document that explains how to close out the machines and remove the cartridge.  Make sure you have it in large bold writing that they are to return the cartridge promptly.  Don’t assume that they know this already.  Remember, at this point in the day these people have put in 14 or more hours; they are tired and exhausted and thus prone to forget things.  You might also provide a colorful bag (say, bright orange) that the cartridge should be placed in.  The color of the bag will reinforce the message that this is important.
   

4. Another solution that might be costly, but effective, would be an automated callout to the pollworkers’ cell phones.  Most large jurisdictions now supply the polling location with at least one cell phone that can be used to call the office in the case of problems.  If an automated call was placed shortly after the close of polls reminding workers to return cartridges, it might jog their memory about this.
   

5. Use ZONES.  If you have a large number of precincts or you have a large county (geographically) you might consider having workers drop their cartridges off at several different zone locations.  At those locations your office staff will transmit the results via secure phone lines or other data lines (such as ISDN, etc.).  This allows a quicker drop off of cartridges and shortens the amount of driving that workers have to do.  Remember that many of our pollworkers are older and may not like driving in the city at night.  A convenient zone will help quite a bit.  However, you will have to stress that they need to know their assigned zone location.
   

6. Make sure that you have clear chain of custody of cartridges.  If a pollworker drops them off at your main office, make sure they just don’t hand them to the first person they see.  Be sure that you have designated staff to handle the collection of cartridges and have a procedure for getting them back to the ballot room in a timely and secure manner.

 Keep in mind that many of my remarks apply to large and medium sized counties.  In a very small county you may well have 100% turn in of results cartridges.  However, in medium and large counties these issues will continue to be a subject that needs to be addressed.