I am an election inspector for the City of Ann Arbor. While I do have partisan sympathies, I will stow them tomorrow as I work to ensure a free and fair election. I have worked as a precint chair many times, the last time in November, 1996.

To help prepare me for the election, the City of Ann Arbor has put me through two training sessions; here are some impressions:

• Michigan’s Secretary of State is working very hard to assure that no Florida style snafu’s occur in Michigan. The city is actually hiring lawyers to work as election inspectors. Theoretically, lawyers know more about election law; they also are less likely to be intimidated by strident partisans.
  
• We may have actual challengers challenging voters this year. In the past, people that called themselves challengers acted more like poll watchers.
  
• The police are insisting on visiting each precinct. These visits concern potential terrorism. The city stresses that there are no specific threats of election day violence.
  

1. One can vote a straight party. Voting straight Republican casts a vote for President Bush.
   
2. One can override straight party votes. One can vote straight Republican and vote for Senator Kerry with two marks, one in the straight party section and one in the president section.
   
3. One cannot override straight party votes with a fictitious write in candidate. Suppose a voter marks their ballot as Republican in the straight party section and for fictitious write-in candidate “Nun Othea Buv” in the President section.
   
   
   
   1. The voter fills out the ballot.
      
   2. The voter places the ballot into the Optech III-P Eagle machine. The machine tallies one undetermined write in vote and shuttles the ballot into a special bin.
      
   3. After the polls close, the machine indicates that at least one ballot includes a write-in vote for president. Poll workers retrieve the ballots which include write in votes and locate the ballot attempts to cast a vote for “Nun Othea Buv” as president.
      
   4. Poll workers note that “Nun Othea Buv” is not a registered write in candidate for president. They are supposed to note that the voter chose to vote straight Republican and correct the machine printed totals tape to indicate another vote for President Bush.
      
   
   

I express these items in a more alarmist fashion on my blog.