New OH Directive: Polling Place Security & Voting Equipmt, Supplies &/or Chain of Custody Form

[mod mom]

2008-25: Polling Place Security and Voting Equipment, Supplies and/or Ballots Chain of Custody Form

DIRECTIVE 2008-25

February 19, 2008

TO: All COUNTY BOARDS OF ELECTIONS
Members, Directors, and Deputy Directors

RE: Polling Place Security and Voting Equipment, Supplies and/or Ballots Chain of Custody Form


The purpose of this Directive is to help ensure the security of all voting equipment, supplies and/or ballots used in the March 4, 2008 primary election.

Polling Place Security

In order to ensure accountability and election integrity, all county boards of elections must be conscientious of their responsibility to provide for the security of voting equipment, supplies and/or ballots, before, on and after Election Day. Securing voting equipment, supplies and/or ballots starts with designating polling locations, to the extent possible, that have adequate security features. Every Board of Elections must train its precinct elections officials to be responsible for maintaining the security of the polling place, voting equipment, and supplies, including the ballots, for the election process. Precinct elections officials must be trained to be watchful throughout Election Day and be aware of who is in the polling location where voting is occurring. Frequent monitoring of voting machines and securing voting supplies and ballots prevents mishaps or damage caused by inadvertence and will help ensure that any malicious attempt to compromise the accurate gathering and reporting of the vote is unsuccessful. The following basic tasks must be undertaken to ensure that the voting equipment and the voting process are secure for use in every precinct:

Inspect voting machines for physical damage while setting up or closing units and record every such inspection on maintenance/event logs. Examples to be recorded include: damages or broken lid hinges, cracked cases, unstable or broken legs on the case, damage to equipment inside case, and tampering with seals. If any seals appear to be tampered with or manipulated, that voting machine must not be used for the election.
Maintain control over all voting machine keys, memory cards and ballots.
Assure that the election media slot (memory card/cartridge slot area) on every voting machine is secure prior to the start of voting and throughout Election Day.
Report any suspicious activity in or around voting machines to the Director or Deputy Director of the Board of Elections.

Every presiding judge’s packet should contain emergency telephone numbers for local law enforcement, emergency medical assistance and the local fire department in addition to numbers at the board of elections that can be accessed without receiving a busy signal. In the event of an emergency requiring the polling place to be vacated (fire, flood, bomb threat, etc.) precinct elections officials must be trained that their first priority is to ensure the safety of other pollworkers and the voters. Only if time safely permits should the presiding judge and other precinct elections officials gather and secure all critical election supplies and machines. If this can be safely done, these items should be taken out of the polling place and secured at a safe distance from the polling location. At least one election official and preferably two of opposite parties must remain with the removed supplies and machines at all times. Critical election supplies include voting machines, voting machine cartridges and/or memory cards, ballots, voter registration books, and voter poll books and poll lists.

Voting Equipment Chain of Custody Form

As an additional means of providing polling place security, our office has developed a chain of custody log that Boards of Elections must use to document the custody of voting equipment, supplies and/or ballots. (If your board already has such a form, please compare it to the one attached to this directive and contact your assigned elections attorney for a waiver on the use of this form.) The purpose of this form is to track the custody and location of voting equipment, supplies and/or ballots from the time the voting equipment, supplies and/or ballots leave the Board of Elections offices until returned to the Board of Elections offices.


A signature is required whenever custody of the equipment, supplies and/or ballots changes hands or location. Additionally, whenever custody of the voting equipment, supplies and/or ballots changes, the individual transferring custody and the individual receiving custody must examine the voting equipment, supplies and/or ballot packets to ensure all seals on the equipment, supplies and/or ballots are in place and appear to be intact and in sufficient working order as can be determined by a visual inspection. By signing the chain of custody log, the signer is not only certifying that he or she took custody of the voting equipment, supplies and/or ballots or delivered the voting equipment, supplies and/or ballots to a location, but also that he or she examined the equipment, supplies and/or ballot packets and did not discover any evidence of physical irregularity. Compliance with this directive will account for custody of the voting equipment, supplies and/or ballots at all times while outside of the board of elections offices.
Additional instructions for the completion of the form are included on the form, which is attached to this directive. A sample completed form is also completed for your reference and includes an example of how to complete a form. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Pat Wolfe, Elections Administrator, or Jacqueline Rothschuh, Assistant Elections Administrator, at [phone]

Sincerely,


Jennifer Brunner

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/ElectionsVoter/OhioElections.aspx?Section=3368

[mod mom]

1. Here is a link of all recent Ohio SOS Directives:

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/ElectionsVoter/OhioElections.aspx?Section=3227

[Mountainman]

2. It must piss off the repukes to have Dem SoS's in OH and CA.

In FL and OH where, I believe, the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen it was the repuke SoS's that were the key to the stolen elections. Harris and Blackwell should rot in hell IMHO.