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Glossary:

Ballot: List of candidates used for voting.

Ballot Box: After the voter marks his choices on his ballot, the ballot is dropped into this locked box for counting after all the ballots have been cast.

Challenged Voter:  A person who presented himself to the Clerk in order to get a ballot for voting.  The Clerk or Watcher did not believe the person was qualified to vote, thus the voter was challenged.

                Reasons to Challenge:

                                    Identity – You do not believe that person is who they say they are.

Residency – You believe the person no longer lives in the precinct or moved out longer than 30 days.

Sobriety – The voter is drunk or under the influence of drugs.

Clerk:  Precinct worker on Election Day.  Represents County Government not party.  May have been recommended by a party for the paid position.

Election Chairman or Judge: Person in charge of proceedings at the polls on Election Day.  Appointed by the local government.

Fast Count – Ballots are counted quickly by poll workers working together as a team to manipulate the outcome, too fast for watchers or the public to keep up with what they are doing. 

Floater or Floater Voter: A person who cast his vote in several precincts on Election Day.

Master Leaver: On a voting machine there is a leaver that can be thrown that will register a vote for every candidate for that one party.  Punch Card Computer voting has a similar hole that can be punched. 

Paper Ballot: A list of candidates running for office printed on paper.  Voters mark who they want for office and put the paper ballot in the Ballot Box for counting after the election is over.

Polling Place: Building housing voting machines used on Election Day.

Poll Watcher: Represents a candidate or party.  Not an Election Official.  Has no legal right to address voters directly.  Must bring all inquires to the Precinct Chairman.

Precinct Chairman / Election Judge:  In charge of the polling place on Election Day.

Slow Count – Ballots are counted taking a longer than needed time to count.  The poll officials are waiting for the opponent’s  precincts to report so that they will know how many votes they will have to report for their candidate or party to makeup the difference to insure victory.

Spoiling (a ballot) – Marking a ballot with a vote for more than one candidate in a race so that the legal vote cannot/will not be counted and voided.  The spoiling is done by a one of the ballot counters.

String Voting: The voter is given a string with knots in it at different locations along the string.  When the string is laid down next to the ballot, usually a paper ballot, the knots show for whom the voter is to vote for. 

Voting the Books – Voting for someone legally on the registration books that has not voted.