The process here is similar, Mark. Only the voter handles his/her ballot. If the machine kicks it back, the poll worker is only there to provide instructions.

If a ballot has to be touched by anyone other than the voter, a requirement is to have two workers (one from each party) assist/observe.

In addition to all this, there are up to 4 poll watchers (2 from each political party in my case) who watch like a hawk and call the elections office to report any discrepancies.

Finally (and I think I said this before), the machines are audited which means the ballots are removed, hand-counted and the scores are compared against the machine readout. All this is done in the presence of multiple witnesses from all political parties and/or a public meeting.


Jay