Boston Example

The following materials were used to support an observation program in Boston, Massachusetts in 2016. The students who participated were paid and worked the full day. The level of commitment may be beyond what is expected of your students, but the materials should be helpful as a starting place for how to prepare students for Election Day and how to prepare for the logistics of deploying students to precincts around a local jurisdiction.

• PowerPoint training deck: Used to guide the training session required of all students.
• Data Collection Instructions: Provides instructions about how to gather the data using the following three forms.
  • Attendance Counter Sheet: Used by Attendance Counters to count arrivals and lines at 10-minute intervals
  • Voter Observer Sheet: Used by Voter Observer to time how long voters spend at various bottlenecks (checking in, marking a ballot, etc.)
  • Polling Place Setup Coding Form: Used by Voter Observer to record the physical layout of the polling place, and to answer basic questions about the setting.
• "Team 1" Overview Map of Polling Places: We provided a list and a Google Map view of the polling places assigned to each team.
• Report: This is the report provided to the City of Boston that summarizes the results of the research.