Research Before Election Night Call your County Board of Elections. Ask for the location and time of the "unofficial canvass" on Election Night, the location and time of the counting of the absentee, provisional and other ballot types, and the location and time of the Official Canvass.

Materials for Election Night Obtain a list of precincts in your County. (If you need a list in Pennsylvania, please email a request. For lists in other states, try googling the state name along with "voting districts" and "by county".) This list can be on paper or, if you can bring a PDA or laptop to the central counting location, on an electronic spreadsheet. Also, bring as many Forms for Results by Vote Type as you feel you can handle. Don't feel obliged to collect all the information from every precinct. It's better to collect reliable information from 20 precincts than to make yourself crazy trying to collect all the numbers from all of the precincts. Bring pens and clipboard, or a PDA, or a laptop. Make sure you have enough battery power -- the observation could take many hours. Bring snacks and water.

On Election Night Go to the central counting location (which is usually, but not always, at or near the Board of Elections). Your primary job is to write down the time at which the materials from each precinct arrive at the central counting location. Your secondary job is to record vote totals by ballot type, for as many ballot types as possible. Try to get complete sets of numbers for each precinct whose vote totals you record. As Soon As Possible Submit your precinct-level data at the Election Defense Alliance website. Save a copy of the forms you filled out. Email your information about precinct-material arrival times to ei at campaignscientific.com.

Later in Election Week If possible, observe any ballot counting that occurs in the week following Election Day. Also observe the Official Canvass. Record vote totals and any interesting observations.

As Soon As Possible Submit your precinct-level data at the Election Defense Alliance website.

General Tips
Be firm. You have the right to observe the process.
Be polite and respectful. Election officials have a difficult job to do. A pleasant working relationship with any employee of the Board of Elections is an asset to the Election Integrity movement.
Your most important task is to note the time that each precincts' materials arrive at the central counting location on Election Night. This information is not typically available after Election Night. Anecdotally, the precincts that arrive the latest are the dirtiest.
The goal is to get complete data sets (all vote counts, simultaneously by candidate and by precinct) for several precincts.
Partial data sets for many precincts is not better than full data for a few precincts.
If you must err, err on the side of fewer precincts, rather than less information per precinct.