Help Prevent Equipment and Ballot Shortages

Check to see if sufficient paper ballots will be provided. If paper ballots are used for voting (including emergency paper ballots to be used in case electronic machines fail), find out the county's policy regarding number of ballots provided to each precinct. The number should be a percentage of the number of registered voters, and this percentage should be consistent throughout the jurisdiction(s). Check your state elections code to see if there are specific guidelines for the number of ballots to be provided, or call your local elections office.

Note that if the voter rolls have recently been "scrubbed" of people who have died, moved away, etc., the percentage of ballots needed per 100 registered voters should be increased, as more of the names on the list will be active voters. A very high turnout is expected in this election.

Assess electronic voting machine and voting station allocation for equality. If electronic voting machines are used, find out how many machines are scheduled to be provided in each polling place. (Check number of private polling stations -- “voting booths” -- as well.) Check to see that the number of machines provided is both proportionate to the number of voters and is sufficient. In other words, precincts with more voters should have proportionally more machines. The current rule of thumb is one DRE (" touch screen machine") per 175 voters. If enough backup paper ballots are on hand, and if only machines in good working condition are sent to each polling site, that should allow all voters to cast ballots without an unreasonable wait time, even when election turnout is high.