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In-person voting, with ID, for those who can. Exceptions: civilian expatriates, military service members, and those who plan to be traveling. A section for each of those categories follows.

Ballots are printed not less than 90 days prior to an election, serial numbered, and the location of serial number series tracked from the printer to the counting facility (more on that later). Any break in the signature chain of custody at any time renders the effected group of ballots void and they are to be condemned, their destruction documented and witnessed. No ballot lacking a signature chain of custody will be valid.

At the voting precinct, one ballot is issued to each voter, in person, with ID, no exceptions, by at least one worker and one observer from each of the major parties. Smaller parties capable of providing observers will be permitted to do so and, when they cannot, will provide an affidavit, along with their application to have a candidate on the ballot, stating that they will abide in the integrity of the major party observers.

Once completed by the voter, a ballot is placed in a sealed (except for a slot for insertion, of course) under the eyes of at least one other poll worker and one observer from each of the major parties as above.

At 8:PM local time the doors to the polling location will be closed to entry and only those remaining in line inside the location will be permitted to continue voting. As soon as the last voter leaves the location, the sealed containers. will be further sealed as to their slots. Signature chain of custody, by observers from each of the major parties, will be maintained.

At no time will ballot boxes be placed in hidden portions of a vehicle (such as the trunk), or in any private vehicle.

The boxes will be transported in the passenger cabins of police vehicles to the counting facility. There, the observers from the precinct will, in person, with ID, and signature chain of custody, hand over the sealed boxes which will be hand carried to the counting table(s) assigned for that precinct.

Only when all boxes from the precinct are physically present and documented will counting proceed.

A counting table will be staffed with one supervisor, one counter, one relief counter, and one observer from each of the major parties and any smaller parties capable of providing them (see above). Supervisors will unseal, open, close, seal, and mark as complete each ballot box, and gather the counts. Counters and observers will sit opposite each other; relief counters will be on-call elsewhere in the facility out of view of the counting tables.

Silence is expected. Expressions of courtesy (”excuse me” etc.) are expected, and calls for relief either hourly or at biological need will be necessary. Discussion of the ballots, trends in the voting, etc are strictly forbidden, enforced by the supervisors.

One box at a time will be unsealed and opened in view of all persons at the table, who will sign off on having witnessed it. A supervisor, in view of everyone at the table, will move one ballot at a time from the box to the table. Each counter will tabulate, on a form provided, the votes of each ballot. Observers will observe, but not touch, the ballots. At the other end of the table a second box for counted ballots will be in the custody of the other supervisor.

When all of the ballots have been tabulated, the tabulations from each counter will be compared. If they differ in any way, the full box and empty box will be physically transposed and the process begun again. The discrepant tabulations will be destroyed on the spot in view of all at the counting table.

When a box has been successfully counted, it will be sealed and placed in a storage area in the facility under guard, the single entry under direct observation. No box is to be removed from this storage area until all the boxes have been counted, the results agreed upon and reported.

Table tabulations will be kept at each table under the eyes of the bi- or multi-partisan supervisors. When a table (corresponding to a voting precinct) is complete, the counters, and relief counters will be relieved and the table rendered visibly not in use (folding tables folded, for example). The supervisors and observers will tabulate the tabulations, producing a single tabulation, which will be attached to the counting forms and reported to the next level.

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Civilian expatriates apply to their home precincts to have ballots sent to embassies and consulates. Ballots completed at the embassies/consulates, in person, with ID. Ballots returned by fastest means with the sort of postal tracking and return receipts I use when shipping valuable ebay merch.

Military: organizational voting officers appointed to request voting materials from home districts of service members within the command, sent to the unit headquarters, completed under the supervision (NOT direct observation) of those officers, in person, with ID. As an Army veteran, I believe Battalion-level is correct, run out of the S-1 shop, but with the duty assigned from among the Lieutenants according to the Duty Officer Roster. Other services have different organizational sizes, but a single voting officer temporarily relieved of other duties can deal with this for 500 to 600 servicemembers in a 30 day period. Ballots returned to precincts under the same standards as the expatriate vote, above.

Persons in the US who are traveling must* include in their travel preparations a visit to their county courthouse within 60 days prior to the election to apply for ballot, which will be completed in person with ID.

Completed absentee ballots gathered from diplomatic, military, and local government locations will be carried to the counting facility and sealed in containers according to the voting precinct. Signature chain of custody for these materials will be maintained.

*Failing that, they are deemed to have voluntarily chosen not to vote.

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That’s as far as I’ve gotten, and I have other things to do on a Sunday morning.

Bests to all! And may God defend the right.