The Election Verification Network

Sexy Audits: Risk-limiting auditing has come to dominate discussion of post-election audits, but can the high level of reassurance that such audits promise also coexist with logistical feasibility and affordability? We will discuss the practical aspects of risk-limiting audits: methods, pilot tests, bottlenecks, and sample legislative language.

In the Court of Law and In the Court of Public Opinion - How Best to Combine Litigation and Public Advocacy to Protect Election Integrity: This session will discuss the ways in which litigation and public advocacy strategies can work together to advance the election integrity movement. The session will also explore challenges in combining such strategies. The discussion will include a focus on the cases in New Jersey and Pennsylvania challenging electronic voting; the work challenging the merger of ES&S and Diebold; the 2008 emergency paper ballots case in Pennsylvania; and reform efforts using litigation and public advocacy.

Making Election Materials Understandable: A Plain Language Workshop: A critical step in meaningful participation in elections is the ability to understand them. Voter education materials, ballot instructions, and error messages are all part of the "interface" between voters and an election. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn basic guidelines for writing in plain language and will practice improving real election materials to make them usable for voters.

Working with Election Officials: Voting integrity advocates and election officials are often at odds. This is not surprising: advocates are asking for changes to laws or procedures that directly impact the way election officials do their jobs. But there are have been many fruitful collaborations between advocates and election officials. Ultimately, the most successful advocates are those that find a way to work with election officials. Election officials have practical knowledge that can make advocates' proposals workable in a real election environment, they often have the power to pilot ideas championed by advocates, and their support is often critical to getting legislative or regulatory changes made. On this panel, we will talk to three of the nation's leading election officials about their interactions with advocates; successful and unsuccessful relationships; when and why they are willing to work with advocates; and what they hope to gain from their interactions with advocates.