Attended the County Board of Canvass this morning. It's when the county officials go over what the surrounding towns and villages (and one city) submitted as documentation from the August 11th election to make sure everything is correct and complete before they certify the vote tally for the county. I'd attended once before to see what checks/balances they performed. This time I had an uneasy feeling about their turn over in staff and some changes in procedures. I wasn't worried about the voting itself - just wanted to be sure our town was submitting paperwork in the form they required and reassure myself that all was going smoothly in their office. I grabbed a coffee and bopped over to the County Seat for the 8 a.m. meeting. Only one aide was there and she was manning the front desk. Two other people were certifying the election results w/ the county clerk. Our town is alphabetically first so we were the first scrutinized. They checked that all of the paperwork was signed (Yep); that the EDR's (Election Day Registrations) paperwork submitted, total entered, and supplemental poll book page signed (Yep); that the absentee log was included, the opened envelopes they came in were included, the number of absentees entered in the paperwork matched the log (Yep); and the vote count for each candidate was the same as called in to them after the election (Yep). I stuck through the meeting listening to the comments on other town's paperwork but prepared to leave when they transitioned to the villages. They asked if I had any feedback. I again questioned how they wanted tally sheets handled. If you use a tabulator the tally sheet only lists the number of votes each candidate received from the tabulator's final count. The tally sheet total, however, is made out in duplicate by two different poll workers and has a signed certification on the back. The canvass didn't verify their numbers against the tally sheets. They checked their numbers against the sheet the town clerk uses to call the county clerk's office on election night. It's a paper that isn't on the checklist to put in a secured bag, isn't signed, and I didn't realize wasn't just thrown away after the count was called in. Seems a mismatch to me. The County Clerk said to keep doing tally sheets the way we have been. One of the canvassers made a big deal that the name in the poll book of the last voter for the election be circled in red. I'm not sure what the purpose is. Poll workers put down the page and the number of the last voter on multiple other pieces of paperwork. I knew enough to circle it because I had sat in on an earlier canvass where the same canvasser had brought up the same issue each time a town neglected to do it. I asked where it was written for the poll workers to circle that voter's name? If it isn't on a checklist somewhere, poll workers are likely to forget to do it. The canvassers had made a comment that they ought to include it on an existing checklist. Hopefully w/ my added encouragement it will get done before the next election. I'll write up some of the things other towns do (both bad and good) and send it out to Chief Inspector Andy and Town Clerk Chris. See if there are any improvements we should make.
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