Whose election is it, anyway?
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This document discusses research into poll worker experiences and attitudes on election security. Some key findings include: 1. Poll workers follow detailed security procedures baked into their training and responsibilities, though perfect implementation is difficult. 2. Security vulnerabilities stem from interactions between people, processes, equipment and documentation rather than purposeful attacks. 3. Closing polls and reconciling vote counts are consistently cited as the most stressful and error-prone parts of the process. Empowering poll workers through clear but concise documentation, training, testing and trust in their abilities helps optimize election security.
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Whose election is it, anyway?
- 1. Whose election is it, anyway? Dana Chisnell Center for Civic Design
- 2. A day in the life of a poll worker
- 3. A day in the life of a poll worker This is ALSO a day in the life of a poll worker.
- 4. 4 ownership attitudes ▪ I’m responsible for running the polling place ▪ I have to follow procedures ▪ I have to get the paperwork right ▪ I’m responsible for my election
- 5. Poll worker attitudinal factors ▪ Personal history ▪ Election culture ▪ Voting equipment ▪ Who manages the team ▪ Local policies ▪ Leadership of clerk or election director ▪ Changes in laws
- 6. About the project What we wanted to learn
- 7. Background First research to look at security from point of view of poll workers interacting with systems
- 8. With support from the National Science Foundation EAGER grant CNS-1301887
- 9. Coverage ▪ 19 elections in 12 states ▪ November 2012 – November 2013 ▪ 17 researchers ▪ Purposeful but convenient sample ▪ Types of elections ▪ Range of systems ▪ Geographical range ▪ Range of sizes of jurisdiction ▪ Different approaches to administration and process
- 10. What we expected ▪ Security would be a distinct part of procedures & training ▪ Issues would occur in the interaction with voting systems ▪ Issues caused by mistakes, not purposeful attacks
- 11. Highlights from the research
- 12. Security is baked in ▪ Poll workers have and use procedures designed for security ▪ Procedures are designed to support trust in elections ▪ Security is not treated separately
- 13. Security vulnerabilities are distributed ▪ People ▪ Processes ▪ Paper ▪ Procedures and training
- 14. Nobody is doing it flawlessly ▪ Even great jurisdictions see imperfect completeness, accuracy, or clarity ▪ Empowered poll workers cope well, generally
- 15. Stress points Elections seem to be optimized for opening the polls 1.
- 16. Stress points: particular challenges to security on Election Day Closing & shutdown ▪ Inventorying & packing up ▪ Recording counts ▪ Organizing, sorting ▪ Managing assignments and tasks ▪ Coping with exhaustion + urgency
- 17. Stress points Reconciling was, by far, the biggest and most persistent problem 2.
- 18. Big insights Security and the Goldilocks Problem
- 19. Everything runs on documentation • Manuals • Checklists • Job aids • Forms
- 20. The Goldilocks Problem Too hard: 200-400 pages of documentation and forms Too soft: 100-page manual and a phone number What is just right?
- 21. Enough to document. And no more.
- 22. Best practices ▪ short checklists for setting up and shutting down ▪ working in pairs while setting up and shutting down systems ▪ rotating through different stations through the day ▪ conducting mini-reconciliations throughout the day ▪ greeters-as-gatekeepers
- 23. Best practice Empower through training and trust ▪ Teams had ways to resolve disputes ▪ Leads took strong responsibility ▪ Forms and checklists helped catch mistakes before they became big problems
- 24. Helping poll workers do the best possible job ▪ Use scenarios and role-playing to practice anticipating problems ▪ Use appropriate constraints such as checklists ▪ Give clear guiding principles ▪ Have strong expectations and equivalent consequences for not meeting them
- 25. Helping poll workers do the best possible job ▪ Train them. ▪ Test them. ▪ Trust them.
- 26. Thank you.
- 27. Field Guides To Ensuring Voter Intent
- 28. Get in touch! Dana Chisnell dana@civicdesign.org @danachis civicdesign.org @civicdesign