Choice and priority of monitoring activities will depend on many factors, including state laws and the type of voting equipment used in your area.
What kind of voting machines will you be monitoring? Check The Verifier, a tool prepared by VerifiedVoting. Call your county or jurisdiction to confirm that the information is up-to-date.
Paper Ballot Voting Systems: Any system where the votes are cast on a paper ballot.
Paper ballots can be counted by hand by multipartisan teams in an openly observable
fashion, providing the election transparency needed in order to provide a basis for
confidence in the accuracy of elections. Most paper ballots are not counted by hand, but
by electronic optical scanners. With optical scan systems, the voter marks a paper
ballot which is then counted by a computer either at the polling place or at a central
location for the county.
Paper Ballot Voting Systems/All Vote-By-Mail: Typically optical scan ballots where
the voter fills in the paper ballot and mails it. The ballots are then scanned by a central
scanner for the county or jurisdiction.
Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Voting Systems. This includes touchscreens and
other electronic devices where the selection is made on a screen rather than on a paper
ballot. The vote is stored electronically. To simplify the discussion, although not
technically accurate, these systems will be referred to as touchscreens.
DREs with VVPAT: Some touchscreen systems include a Voter Verifiable Paper
Audit Trail (VVPAT). Here a roll of paper similar to a cash register receipt is printed at
the time of voting. It can be viewed by the voter but remains in the machine. Voters may
look at the VVPAT to confirm that their vote has printed out correctly. However, there is
no way to confirm that how you voted or what is on the VVPAT is actually the vote the
machine is storing, or that the vote totals are accurate.
DREs without VVPAT: As described above, however with no "paper record" or "paper
trail." The vote is stored only electronically. There is no way to confirm that how you
voted is actually the vote the machine is storing, or that the vote totals are accurate.
Mixed Paper Ballot Systems and DREs with VVPAT: Both optical scan paper ballots
and touchscreens with a printout are available at the polling place.
Mixed Paper Ballot Systems and DREs without VVPAT: Both optical scan paper
ballots and touchscreens without printouts are available at the polling place.
Lever machines: Mechanical (not computerized) direct recording voting systems.
Go to the VotersUnite website for a more detailed summary with pictures, and a
summary of malfunctions and miscounts for these systems.
Now return to the monitoring guide for next steps.
The Vote You Save May Be Your Own!