CONGRATS! to CVV

["Joe Pezzillo" <jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx>]

I just want to say CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU to everyone who's been 
working to make CVV the effective group that it is!

In case you haven't already heard, the County Clerk's office has 
postponed their new voting system decision, effectively rescinding 
their decision to purchase a system including any DRE devices at this 
time, and has stated that the plan they will present to the 
Commissioners for the 2004 election will be based on central optical 
scanning of PAPER BALLOTS!

In essence, the County Clerk's office has adopted CVV's position -- at 
least as far as 2004 is concerned -- and we welcomed (and thanked) 
them!

WE ARE NOT DONE, of course, and we must make sure that we're involved 
in any additional selection process for the optical scanner-based 
system they will choose (and continue to push for vote marking devices, 
not vote recording devices, in the future), but as far as I can tell, 
this represents a major victory for CVV.

Among other things, I'd like to build on what seems to be our newfound 
coalition with the Clerk's office, and have discussed with them two 
areas where we may be able to work together immediately: 1) 
Modification/Reform of Colorado Election Law to clarify the validity of 
paper receipts or other paper audit mechanisms without the Secretary of 
State's intervention, and 2) trying to recruit new volunteers and 
workers to help with the 2004 election.

We must continue to be active especially now that we're "winning" on 
the conceptual front, but I think a moment of congratulations are in 
order, and maybe now's the time for us to figure out where to grab that 
drink (I can have sparkling cider, right?)!

Again, thank you to everyone who has been active on this issue, we're 
helping to prove that active and engaged citizens CAN make a 
substantial difference in the process.

Joe