Leaders in favor of paper balloting

["Volunteer Coordinator" <volunteer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Longmont Daily Times-Call has been nice enough to provide this
electronic version for us. They understand that we are a digital group (even
though we believe in the power of paper). This is pretty exceptional for
them.
In my opinion the only decent subscription paper in the county. -- Paul
Tiger
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Leaders in favor of paper balloting

By Trevor Hughes
The Daily Times-Call

BOULDER - Voters next fall likely will find themselves casting familiar
ballots in the 2004 presidential election.

The ballots likely will resemble those used in this year's mail-in election:
cards with circles to fill in that will then be read by a central computer.

All counties are federally required to replace punch-card voting system with
something else. Many counties are considering electronic voting machines
that work much like ATMs - voters cast their ballots electronically and get
a receipt afterward.

That's too risky because computers can be tampered with, a group of
concerned voters and the Boulder County commissioners agreed Thursday. The
commissioners are expected to make a decision on a specific system early
next year.

An eclectic mix of political activists, dot-commers and would-be politicians
are pushing the commissioners to buy a paper-ballot based system. The
commissioners, however, appear to already be aboard.

"Having voter confidence is going to be of utmost importance," said
Commissioner Tom Mayer. "The paper ballot, read by an optical scanner, is
probably the way to go."

Added Commissioner Ron Stewart: "That's where I am, too."

Commissioner Paul Danish has long been a vocal supporter of paper ballots
and said he recognized many of the members of Citizens for Verifiable
Voting.

The group was formed by some members of a task force assembled by County
Clerk Linda Salas to advise her and the commissioners on what kind of
equipment to buy. The task force has not yet made an official
recommendation.

But CVV is clear that it will fight any proposal lacking paper ballots.

"What we're not saying is that we don't believe computers have any role in
elections," said Joe Pezzillo, a spokesman for CVV. "We want to see a single
paper ballot. That is what your are going to get maximum voter confidence
from."