CVV Elections System Public Response

["Joe Pezzillo" <jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx>]

From: 	  jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: 	CVV Elections System Public Response
Date: 	January 12, 2004 2:18:03 PM MST
To: 	  commissioners@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: 	  bcv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, sashcraft@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, lsalas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


January 12th, 2004

FROM: Boulder County Citizens for Verifiable Voting
http://www.coloradovoter.net

TO: Boulder County Board of Commissioners
CC: County Clerk Linda Salas
CC: Boulder County Citizens for Verifiable Voting


Citizens for Verifiable Voting has learned that the Elections Division will recommend the purchase of a Hart InterCivic optical scan system on January 22, 2004. While we are pleased that the Elections Division is recommending a system based on voter-verifiable paper ballots, we have several concerns about this recommendation that merit your attention.

The public has not seen the details of the Elections Division's recommendation - only a summary press release. We therefore ask that you direct the Elections Division to post prominently on the Internet all documentation relevant to its recommendation well before any scheduled public hearing to allow sufficient time for analysis.

We are also concerned about the Election Division's recommendation to purchase, rather than lease, a system at this time. Our previous voting system lasted for more than 25 years, and the investment we now make will affect our elections and our democracy for a long time. Since NIST and the Election Assistance Commission have not issued their voting system technical standards, any system purchased now may not comply with yet-to-be-released Federal standards.

We are also concerned that the Elections Division's recommendation to purchase a system could potentially lock the County into future voting system purchases from the same vendor. Since HAVA will almost certainly require the County to purchase some form of ADA-compliant voting terminals in the next few years, and the market for voting systems continues to change at an unprecedented rate, the County should keep all its options open by leasing a system for the current 2004 election only. This way, the County will be free to choose any vendor's products, without worrying about the major system integration problems inherent in combining voting systems from multiple vendors. A system purchase now seems premature and particularly risky.

Finally, since computerized optical-scan systems can be tampered with, we ask that you direct the Elections Division to incorporate some form of "random sample" double-checking into their vote tabulation procedures. A small but statistically significant fraction of ballots should be hand counted for independent verification of the machine count accuracy. If the hand count demonstrates that the computer count is invalid, we would know there was a problem and be able to get an accurate count, either by fixing the system or doing a full hand count. Without this critical safeguard, no one can be sure that any computerized vote counting method has not been maliciously tampered with in a way that could affect the outcome of an election.
For the same reasons, we urge the Commissioners to require full public disclosure of any voting system used in Boulder County as an integral part of any contract.

Citizens for Verifiable Voting appreciates that the Boulder County Commissioners have taken a strong interest in ensuring that our elections are demonstrably accurate and reliable. We urge you to continue your commitment to our democratic heritage and rights by responding to our concerns described above.

Sincerely,

Joe Pezzillo, Spokesperson
Boulder County Citizens for Verifiable Voting