Problems

Real judgment calls and troubleshooting situations that come up in the field, but may not be covered in the training manual.

Printing a Sample Ballot Mid-Election

Poll Worker Error Recovery

Situation: During an election, Printer 2 stops working.
What Happened: A poll worker, trying to check whether Printer 1 still works, prints a sample ballot on it.
What Should Happen: Poll staff should never print sample ballots during the election — call the Elves instead (they occasionally print one themselves).
Solution: Spoil all sample ballots, include them in that printer's total ballot count, and put the spoiled ballots in envelope #3.
Why It's Tricky: Since poll staff shouldn't be printing sample ballots during the election, most people don't expect this situation and don't know what to do.

Environmental/Logistics Judgment Call

Situation: An audio voter is voting in the touchscreen/audio booth.
What Happened: Loud, persistent talkers nearby interfere with her ability to hear the audio.
What Should Happen: This is really won or lost at 10:00am on setup day, two days before polls open — a good lead observes staff during setup for non-stop talkers or people who over-project their voice, and proactively arranges a Mobile Ballot Printer in a quiet space plus a good assistant lined up before it becomes a problem.
Solution: Move the voter to a Mobile Ballot Printer, or try to convince them to accept an assistant's help.
Why It's Tricky: The real lesson isn't the in-the-moment fix — it's that a good lead needs to anticipate a busy Tuesday night during setup, days in advance.