Boulder County to recount ballots Monday

["Alan Crandall" <ipix@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This press release just came out and I felt it was relevant to our concerns.
The election officials that were at the Election Reform Meetup in Denver
last Wednesday said in their experience most of the problems in the tally of
an election are directly related to human error.

Alan


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 November 2003

Contact: James Burrus, Media Information Officer, 303-441-1622 or
        Tom Halicki, Elections Division Manager, 303-413-7745

Discrepancy in number of trays of ballots counted prompts total recount

        Boulder County election officials will conduct a recount of the
approximately 76,000 ballots received in the Nov. 4 mail-in ballot election
due to a discrepancy found this week in the number of trays of ballots
counted.
        Computer records indicate that one more tray of envelopes containing
ballots was counted than was recorded in handwritten records. There are
approximately 250-300 ballots per tray.
        Because it is impossible to determine exactly which tray or batch
was at issue, Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Linda Salas decided Friday
to recount all of the ballots. The recount is set to begin at 7 a.m. Monday,
Nov. 17 and could take up to two days to complete.
        "Our system of checks and balances worked and when the discrepancy
became apparent, we immediately contacted the Colorado Secretary of State's
office to let them know," said Boulder County Elections Division Manager Tom
Halicki. "What we suspect happened was that an error occurred while counting
a tray ? which isn't unusual ? and that the count for that tray was not
deleted before recounting. While that is unfortunate, we did catch the error
as part of our verification process."
"As the designated election official for the City of Boulder, I continue to
appreciate the level of commitment to the integrity exhibited in Boulder
County's election process," said Boulder City Clerk Alisa Lewis.  "The
thoroughness of the county's internal audit process and their immediate
response to this discrepancy confirms that appropriate quality control is in
place."
        This year's mail-in ballot election saw a 57 percent voter turnout ?
a record for an off-year election.
        Also set to be counted on Monday are the approximately 68
provisional ballots and ballots on which signatures that did not initially
match were since verified.
        Election officials do not expect the recount to affect the outcome
of any election, except possibly the Eldorado Springs Local Improvement
District question which failed by two votes, 65 to 67. Election officials
said that while they are not certain, they feel it is unlikely that the
recount will affect that outcome.
        -30-



James Burrus
Media Information Officer
w) 303-441-1622
pager) 303-441-3851, #5806