RE: AVTS & Audit Logs & Images

["Ken Clark" <ken@dieboldes.com>]

Following up on the RCR list.

> Audit Log
>
> Currently is only on the Ballot Station & Poll Book.  Are we going to
> transfer these log files to the Host Computer like the ballot images?

There are no plans to do this currently.  This was discussed on the RCR list
some time back.  The short explanation is that this will bloat the database
and slow the upload time without a lot of upside.

> I
> think that if the customer wanted to see a log of any or all of the AVTS
> units, it would be easier coming from the Host Computer, rather
> than having
> to go to a AVTS unit.

Note, it is *any* AVTS unit.  They just need the floppy.

> Also, there is not the capability of printing out
> these logs on the AVTS unit.

Right;  this is a problem.  The reason we don't print out the log right now
is that it doesn't fit on the printer built into the AccuVote-TS.  All the
logs need to be reformatted like on the AccuVote.

I am still really unclear on just what an election administrator would do
with a print out of the log file from the TS though.  They are rarely
printed out on the AccuVote -- I suspect some people don't even know it
exists.

The *only* interesting information that has been suggested is knowing the
time the polls opened, and the only time you would care about that was if
there were complaints about some specific vote center.  In that case you
could just view the log for the floppy.

If people really feel strongly about knowing when polls opened, we can make
it a new column in the TS floppy status report easy enough, but I have a
hard time seeing people feeling strongly after all the AccuVote history
without this feature.  I called for suggestions on other information that
might be uploaded when you filed the RCR for upload of log files, but
received none.

> I also noticed on the Audit Log, that it is not logging when a ballot has
> been cast as it used to.  I don't know if this is required, but it makes
> more sense when you see all the ballots cast, when you see the
> System Total
> & Election Total after a AVTS has been opened or closed.

This is redundant with the voter history file.  We'll fix the voter history
after the Nov elections.

> Ballot Result Log
>
> I think that we would want the
> ballot images
> to be the same as in the Ballot Station, not as if we are
> printing Ballots
> on Demand.  What if we need to print out all the images for the
> customer to
> hand count.

Well, you are walking into the strange logic of hand counting of electronic
ballots here, but okay.  If some jurisdiction decides they want to hand
count their ballot, *and* thinks hand counting AccuVote ballots is too
complicated, I suppose we could write a new report for them.

Personally, I think the ballot viewer is pretty cool, but you're right I
don't know if it makes the most sense for a hand recount, and I am biased
:-).  At the very least, the AccuVote ballots have the perception of being
"real ballots".

> We should be able to put this log into some type of format that
> is easy to
> read for hand counting.

I can make it *really* easy for them and just tell them the results.  Or
maybe format the ballots into a big spreadsheet with the totals already
there for them to "check".  That's why the discussion on how to format these
things is specious.  What they really want is it to be just hard enough that
they feel like they are doing something with the hand count.

> Also, maybe we can set it up to print out only
> specific Races within each ballot image.

That's not a bad idea.

> Currently, if we want to print out the Ballot Images, we have to
> do it one
> by one.  Can we set it up to be able to print out all the images?

Reasonable request.  I'll see if I can wire "Ballot Audit" into "Print
Artwork".

> Voter History Log
>
> After voting several times with Voter Cards that have the Voter History
> disabled, I check my Voter History log and it shows nothing.  Is this
> correct, or should there at least be a log showing the voters without any
> identification - (Disabled)?

Voter history is currently disabled.  It does not interact well with
challenged voters.  This was explained on the bugtrack list.

Ken