County: lack of outreach on e-voting issues

[Doug Grinbergs <saule@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm disappointed that the county hasn't made public more information about the election machine selection process. For the record, I would like to share some comments I made to the county regarding the e-voting issues, and the one very short response I received.

>Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2003 11:30:52 -0700
>To: Tom Halicki <thalicki@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Linda Salas <lsalas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Boulder County Commissioners <commissioners@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>Regarding the the proposed voting machine purchase, I would like the county to please clarify some questions about the process:
>...
>I'd like to better understand what is going to happen on December 12, if that is indeed the date. Is there going to be a press conference, a public meeting or hearing? Where will this be, and at what time?
>
>* The County's news release says:
>
>>Salas will take this recommendation under advisement and make a presentation to the Boulder County Commissioners at a public hearing in January
>
>Has this been scheduled? Date, time, location?
>
>* At Thursday's meeting, Commissioner Mayer told citizens to get involved with the county's election committee. Where can one find information on this committee? Who's on it? Where and when does it meet? Are past meeting minutes posted somewhere? I couldn't find answers to these questions on the Web site.
>
>* Also on Thursday, Commissioner Danish said there would be at least one public hearing about the election machines. I'm wondering if that would be another, *separate* hearing from the one mentioned in the news release. Regardless, as soon as this meeting is scheduled, I hope information will be posted (conspicuously) on the county's Web site.
>
>* How might such a public hearing impact the decision-making process?
>
>* Is there a formal position statement by the commissioners regarding the use of paper ballots?
>
>* Finally, as the voting machine issue gets more coverage, and more people are becoming aware, I think it would be helpful to have an *official* Web page dedicated to the voting machine purchase, which would help citizens new to the issue better understand the process and timeline, to see at a glance the official events, past and future, and how to make their voices heard.

Response:

At 11:38 -0700 12/08/03, Halicki, Tom wrote:
>The committee is scheduled to make a recommendation on the 12th.  Linda would make her decision some time after that - there's no particular date scheduled.  The commissioners would then make their decision, probably in January.  It's up to them to schedule a hearing, which they have indicated they would do.

As I said before, I'm disappointed with the county for the lack of Web presence for e-voting matters - election committee(s) info, meeting announcements. I certainly don't expect county government to duplicate the efforts of CVV, but I do believe the government is most certainly responsible for communicating to the citizens about important issues and events.

I used Google to search the county's Web site for "electronic voting"

	<http://www.google.com/search?q=electronic+voting+site:www.co.boulder.co.us>

which turns up only seven pages, the most recent being Tom Halicki's 11/26 release.