Count/Verification Assistant: A Case Study

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Jill started a new job as a count/verification assistant for the Johnson County Board of Elections. After completing her degree, she believed she would have the greatest chance of making a difference in her community and society as a whole. She had completed the counties required training and briefings, read and agree to the terms of the Statement of Secrecy, and she would have no problem with acting impartially at all times and respect confidentiality of material handled.
Mark the senior count/verification assistant and Jill were trapped in the office, the deliveries had been going on all day as the election progressed, no one other that the two of them were allowed in, no one was going to get past the guard out front, they were tired, but
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In fact, they were over 100 percent. Unless her math was off, they were at 108 percent of the entire county.
Mark stated, “We’ve been here long enough, we will just tweak the final numbers. I am sure the Senator won’t mind”.
Jill looked to be in a quandary, her boss/co-worker had attended the same training. What was he asking her to do? She said, “Mark, I guess we should start our count again?”
Mark said, “You signed the same statement of secrecy, let’s just pick Senator Johnson and call it a night.”
Jill responded, “I don’t believe this is the job we were hired to do. Wont they put us in jail?” Waiting for his response, she had a flash of information going through her brain.
Won’t we go to jail? Which one of us messed up, and who can’t count? It is such an easy process. Is this voter fraud occurring right before our eyes? Is this a test from Mark? Wow, we are both so tired, did we miscount, is it worth spending the next 8 hours recounting the ballots? And so many more.
Mark explained a bit further, “We need to get out of here so we can get some sleep, the county office is already over budget on hours, and that the count already placed a majority of the counted votes towards the

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