First, don't touch the touch screen anywhere but where you intend to touch. Early voters have found that resting their hand on the screen while they vote causes the screen to register the wrong selection.
Second, take your time so you vote for your real choices. Some voters are reporting that the touch screen machines aren't working properly and they are having trouble recording their votes as they intend. See:
This from EFF: California voters who are worried about electronic voting machines have an option to vote on paper this year. Many groups worked very hard to get this from the Secretary of State and it was a major victory -- he was sued over it and won in federal court.
Now we've learned that several of the larger counties (including Alameda, Santa Clara and Riverside) have instructed their poll workers that they cannot tell voters about this choice. They must steer voters to the insecure machines and can only offer paper if a voter takes the initiative to choose it.
Needless to say, this is outrageous. To try to raise voter awareness of the choice (and hopefully shame the registrars of voters to change their minds), Electronic Frontier Foundation has created a website with a creative explanation:
Take a look. Then send the link on to your friends, family and other voters in the 11 affected counties (the list is on the website). We have very little time to get the word out. Spread this far and wide. Hopefully, we can even provoke a little media coverage as well.
3) A dangerous port on the Diebold touch screen!!
This from TrueVoteMD: Diebold AccuVote TS electronic voting machines have an infrared (IrDA) port installed (see the picture above). This is a remote communication port through which another remote device could communicate with the touch screen and change either its data or its software or both.
If your county uses Diebold touch screens, let your county officials and election judges know that it is crucial to cover the IR port with opaque tape.
VOTERS CHECK THE REVIEW SCREEN!!
HELP GATHER INFORMATION
With Election Day just one week away, it is clear that this is the most scrutinized election in recent history. Problems that may have been occurring unnoticed for years are now coming under the spotlight. While it can be discouraging to face the many ways in which our election system is in need of repair, knowing the extent of the problems provides us with information we need to improve the system.
Here are some ways you can help expose election problems to the light of day.
1) Sign up to collect and report your precinct totals.
Tracking precinct totals is an important way to scrutinize the election. You can add to the information by submitting the totals from your precinct. VoteWatch has an explanation and signup http://www.votewatch.us/participate/closing_voter
2) Let us know about election problems of all types.
