CO Election Reform Legislative Action

[Bob McGrath (Coloradoans for Voting Inte <bobmcgrath@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

To:  Coloradoans for Voting Integrity (CVI) Board Members (Donna Plutschuk, Peter Raich, Norman Beecher, Monty Lambie, Al Kolwicz, Pete 
Klammer, Bob McGrath)

CC:   Members of Boulder Citizens for Verifiable Voting

From: Bob McGrath, Director, CVI

The Coloradoans for Voting Integrity has assembled its initial Board of Directors (see above) and will be meeting December 21st to strategize 
and prioritize its work for the coming year.  Its first priority will be to develop a position paper similar to what the Boulder group has developed, 
addressing the issues surrounding the use of DRE's and paper ballots. (to view that position paper, please go to   Because CVI has stated its 
desire to address other enfranchisement issues, it will also be developing relevant positions on the purging of voter rolls, the process of 
certifying electronic voting machines, and the need for consistent and fair standards in Colorado for performing initial counts and recounts of 
votes.

One of the goals of the CVI group is to work with the state legislature to address deficiencies in Colorado law and practices related to 
elections.  

Toward that end, we are proposing to arrange a meeting, to be spearheaded by Pete Klammer (new CVI Board Member) along with any 
interested Boulder CVV folks, to strategize what points we want to pursue with state legislators, with the goal of setting up a citizen's advisory 
group which could meet with these state legislators that could help influence drafting of legislation to be released in January.  The titles of the 
Bill and the Resolution on Election Reform have been "reserved" for this next legislative session, according to Pete.  That means there is a 
placeholder for both a bill and a resolution on the general topic of election reform; I believe we now need to bring our wish list to these folks to 
provide them with the content to include in the same.   In my discussion with Moe Keller she was extremely appreciative of the fact that 
Coloradoans for Voting Integrity has come about and expressed a desire to meet with us and work with us, as well as expressing appreciation 
for the work that Pete Klammer has done to date on this issue.  I also have informed her of the seminal and groundbreaking work of CVV in 
Boulder and she looks forward to learning more.

We envision that this legislative team borrows heavily from the Boulder position paper and also addresses:

-the need to amend CO law to allow for the use of paper ballots for recounts if machine counts were originally used (this can be a back-up 
position to our primary position demanding that counting of marked paper ballots be the primary method of counting ballots);

-the need to develop safeguards against overly broad disenfranchisement of voter rolls through centralized databases for such purposes via 
HAVA;

-the need to express support for HR2239 in the resolution which could be delivered to our Congressional delegation;

-the need to put the brakes upon the rush to purchase DRE's by requesting an official legal opinion on the timeline requirements under HAVA;

-the need to retrofit any existing DRE's with paper ballot marking or paper ballot copy-issuing printers, in order to ensure a consistent verifiable 
standard be applied statewide.

Pete, since you have been working with Alice Madden and Moe Keller on these issues, and since Moe expressed a willingness to find Republican 
co-sponsors and to take this issue to the state Democratic Party and its respective leadership in the Senate and House, I am hoping you may 
be willing to help us lead or coordinate this effort.  Please let me know if you would like help in contacting these legislators to arrange for a time 
to meet.  

All:  Please identify whether you wish to serve on a sub-committee for this purpose, and your availability between now and the end of the year 
to meet with the Colorado legislators who are currently drafting this legislation.  

First, if you haven't yet done so, please go to register to use our Coloradoans for Voting Integrity website:

http://www.countthevotecolorado.org/forum/reg.cfm

Then, please go to this link to vote on which TIME you can make for a legislative meeting and provide any SUGGESTIONS FOR LEGISLATION 
HERE TOO:

www.countthevotecolorado.org/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=12&threadid=23&STARTPAGE=1  
[This should open in your browser window, if not copy the COMPLETE url and manually paste in your browser's address box]


Thanks!