Reply #2: Thanks for askin'!

[Bill Bored]

1) How many people get to view the totals on the back of the lever machine?

According to the Election Transparency Coalition, the number has been estimated at http://re-mediaetc.blogspot.com/2009/02/only-transparent-vote-counting-system.html"> over 327,000 people statewide. These include bi-partisan election inspectors (the poll workers) as well as watchers for any candidate on the ballot.

2) Is it one, five, or ten people?

It actually depends on the number of parties with candidates on the ballot. There can be three watchers for each party in each precinct, but I have never heard of anyone being denied access to this procedure. You just have to ask a candidate's campaign to watch on their behalf. And of course if a polling place has more than one precinct, there can be different watchers for each precinct.

3)Once they view the total of the mechanical lever vote/count machine at the polling place, what do they do with them totals?

The watchers are supposed to call the totals in to the campaigns on whose behalf they were watching. But anyone can see any totals they wish -- not just the ones they are supposed to be watching. The poll workers write them down on paper, and that goes to the police, the press and the county board of elections.

4)At the close of election, when and where do they submit/call in the totals that they got from the back of the lever machines?

The totals are immediately hand carried on the return of canvass (paper) by the police, or in some places, by the election inspectors. The watchers can call them in to the campaigns or deliver them any other way they want. They can hand carry them to the campaign office for example. The machines are sealed and locked and trucked back to the warehouse where every one is recanvassed and compared against the paper return of canvass, and any computerized records of the tallies, before the election is certified. If there is a discrepancy, the machines can be opened up, inspected and tested. The watchers are allowed to be present at the recanvass too.

It all looks a lot like this:



Here is a statement from the NYC Board of Elections explaining a lot of this:
http://vote.nyc.ny.us/pdf/documents/boe/StatementOnElectionNightResults.pdf

Care to tell us how this is done in your state kster (just out of curiosity)?