🛑Precinct 590 in El Cerrito, CA is OUT of PAPER BALLOTS.🛑 A line has formed to vote on the touchscreen device (a Ballot Marking Device which saves a BARCODE, not the list of voters' choices, then runs that thru the opscan). Officials were notified of the shortage hours ago. 
7:30 pm — mass confusion and a very long line inside the precinct now
Sign still posted at entrance
“PLEASE USE OUR MARKING MACHINE
We are short of pre printed ballots”
(Posted earlier, when they actually had some)
“PLEASE USE OUR MARKING MACHINE
We are short of pre printed ballots”
(Posted earlier, when they actually had some)
A voter just asked me if she could use her sample ballot to vote (she was on her way back home to get it, something one of the pollworkers said made her think this was possible)
I am explaining to voters in line, one or several at a time, how to check their selections prior to hitting the “print button”.
One minute ago, a voter explained to me that dozens of voters from this precinct and Kensington are being told to vote on their SAMPLE ballot and drop it in the provisional box.
That was ½ correct. Voters have been told to mark their sample ballots and drop them in the *auxiliary* box at back of the Dominion opscan. This advise, I am told, came from central office.
The line has thinned considerably. Many people did indeed decide to vote on their sample ballots. I have spoken to all remaining voters in line, including a couple who did not receive a sample ballot in the mail. There are no blanks available to study. I have left the precinct.
Some voters came down from Kensington when that precinct ran out of ballots. Of course, when they arrived here, they needed to vote provisional. After filling out paperwork to vote provisionally, they were given a choice to wait in line for the ImageCast or fill in sample ballot.
There was also considerable confusion re sign in after the precinct ran out of ballots.
Poll-workers were sorting absentees & provisionals as I left. Earlier, they ran out of room in the main bin for collecting those ballots. Workers were fatigued and obviously trying their best. This is not their fault. But @cocoelections MUST DO BETTER.
Stating that increased turnout was unanticipated will not be accepted as justification for this mess.
Unroll please. You can help me pass this information on to my elections officials and those who supervise them. 🤓
