AZ audit still going strong. I still see one table of vote counting and it's not the braille counting. Most of the tables are scanning the ballots. However, there is a single table in the middle of the floor, best viewed on camera 7, which is doing something which seems a bit odd. One person is taking ballots out of a box, counting some number of them and putting them in what looks like a plastic bag. He then moves that into a pile for the person to his right. That person takes the ballots out of the bag and counts them and then puts them back in the bag and gives it to the person to his right who just stacks them. I guess they'll go back in the ballot box. Seems a bit odd. Not sure why they are being bagged.
edit: now I see an additional person at that table. It's hard to tell but he might have a tie on. Wondering if it's Ken Bennett.
edit 2: by middle of the floor I mean from front to back, but it's along one of the sides. Left side from view on camera 2 but camera 7 has the best view of the table.
edit 3: just realized the ballots are coming out of the box in bags already so they aren't being bagged as they were that way in the box. I haven't seen bagged ballots previously.
edit 4: That guy just got up. In nice slacks, dress shirt and tie. Looks to be Ken Bennett but hard to tell.
Possibly selecting ballots for selective canvassing visits.
I heard they had several questionable ballots that they needed to evaluate again. But, they were already counted. Maybe it is those... The bags is how they sorted the ballots when counted. Each bag is documented, and recorded for later use as evidence. Like they do for all other crimes...
Makes sense. Maybe that's what I'm seeing.
My guess is they are using Pulitzer's system of sorting out the ballots based on the 5-6 different issues they are looking for (wrong paper, machine marking of ballot choices, registration marks printed wrong, etc...)
Does he seem to count them off selectively, e.g. skipping some, or just the set number off the top?
The person taking the ballots out of the bag was holding them from each end and fanning them, I guess to make sure nothing falls out. Then putting them back in the bag and putting them in a pile for the person to the right. That person would take them out and go through them one at a time turning each one over so as to look at both sides. Just checking again and I see that person does set some aside so I guess they're looking for something. Still wondering what the bags are for. This is the first time I've seen ballots in plastic bags. And there aren't many ballots in each bag. Maybe only 10 - 20?
We're hampered for a good guess because we don't know the most basic sort categories. I would guess first precinct, then sequence if the ballots have them. Tellers fan bills to make sure a stack is all oriented the same way, or to make sure they aren't sticking together. Sounds like prep to again verify the count--groups of ten would be handy for later calculation, twenty would work but be hard to count at a glance. The second one looking at both sides could be looking for bleedthrough or blank backs. The backs are the ratings for the Superior Court judges and a lot of people ignore it anyway.
I saw somewhere last week that found boxes of "blank ballots" mixed in with the others. Maybe they are counting those,