Assuring Election Integrity

All politics is local

No ballot plan survives first contact with the voter.  In my recent experience as a poll observer, I saw the best of intentions in upholding our Constitutional Republic.  After two half-hours Zoom training sessions and reviewing rules and regulations from the state and our local County Registrar, I was stationed at a small Camarillo vote center run by two experienced precinct officers with a group of five interested and dedicated poll workers.  Before the workers arrived, the election officer and a technical support worker carefully opened and readied all electronic and manual equipment, conferring at each step with their checklists.  Once the election workers arrived, two hours ahead of poll opening, the election officer confirmed their training or experience status and gave them a detailed orientation as to how the center would run, what to expect, how to deal with the unexpected (including violence), and what their relative duties would be.  Great emphasis was placed on correct sig…