RE: NEWS TIP - Boulder County voter group seeks help from Commissioners (fwd)

[Paul Walmsley <paul@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

paul tiger sent this out last night.


- Paul

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 22:44:32 -0700
From: Paul Tiger <LegislativeDirector@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Commissioners@Co. Boulder. Co. Us" <commissioners@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
     Susan Ashcraft <sashcraft@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
     Linda Salas <lsalas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
     Tom Halicki <thalicki@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
     Dickey Lee Hullinghorst <dlhullinghorst@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
     Jim Burrus <jburrus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
     Nancy Jo Wurl <nwurl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
     Alisa D. Lewis <lewisa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: AlKolwicz@xxxxxxxxx, Bo Shaffer <bo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
     Joe Pezzillo <jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx>,
     Neal McBurnett <neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Paul Walmsley <paul@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
     Caroline Gonzales <caroline.gonzales@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
     Kell Carey <kcarey636@xxxxxxxxx>, Barbara Anuta <boanuta@xxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: NEWS TIP - Boulder County voter group seeks help from
    Commissioners

Greetings All,

I would like to address the comments made by Mr. Pezzillo and Mr. Kolwicz
shown below.
Both of these gentlemen and the group known as Citizens for Verifiable
Voting are well aware of the source of the recommendation that is alluded to
herein.
The recommendation of Hart Intercivic was made by a majority of the members
of the citizen?s review committee at its last meeting on December 12th.
Members of CVV were present at that meeting. Mr. Kolwicz was not present,
but was made aware of the proceedings.
Mr. Kolwicz was a member of that committee, but resigned about two-thirds of
the way through our work. Many of the committee members were unhappy that he
did this, as he had a good deal of influence and his input was welcomed.
Rather than work within the process, those of us that continued have been
subjected to name-calling and insults to our intelligence.

The Clerk?s Office has bent over backwards to include the electors of our
county in the recommendation process. These meetings were public and
publicized. The commissioners have stated that the public would continue to
be involved, and there has been no evidence to show otherwise.

The work of the committee was to provide a recommendation for DREs. It was
not empanelled to address issues of paper ballot tallying; computerized
registration; or electronic poll book systems. Citizens groups such as CVV
have addressed their concerns about these other areas.
While the vendors of such systems did provide information about systems
other than DREs, the committee needed to concentrate its study on the matter
of DREs. It was fairly well accepted that the Clerk and her staff were to
address the back-end systems. The presentations from vendors included these
other areas, because they were of interest to the Clerk and the elections
division. To do otherwise would have caused a scheduling issue for both the
Clerk and the vendors. The Clerk wishes to purchase an integrated system,
and viewing all the options at the same time was both helpful and necessary.

Mr. Kolwicz claim that citizens have been ?shut out? of the process is
groundless. He removed himself from the process. Since then members of the
committee and the clerk have been subjected biased attacks without merit.
Cooperative work has been welcomed, and even the leaders of CVV have
provided a good deal of constructive criticism. Some of this has come from
Mr. Kolwicz, but he has also made claims of secretive actions.
There have been no secretive actions.

Mr. Kolwicz claims of the lack of documentation showing how these decisions
were arrive at are a myth. He was a past member of the committee and well
aware of the outcome of the meetings. Additionally, to make a demand for
documentation on a Friday and then protest non-response on the Monday
following the weekend in simply ludicrous.

CVV and Mr. Kolwicz are representative of a small group. While their input
is welcomed, it is not the only input that must be considered. Linda Salas
and the commissioners were elected by the citizens of this county. Despite
Mr. Kolwicz claim that we live in a democracy, the fact is that we live in a
Democratic Republic. This means that we rely upon elected representation,
not mob rule. Shouting louder than others does not make one?s point more
valid, it just makes it louder.

The list of citizen?s requirements is actually a list provided by a small
group of concerned citizens, not a majority. Public hearings are exactly
what are needed, and the commissioners have not only promised that, but
scheduled them. We are seeing accusations of wrong doing without merit.

The claim by Mr. Kolwicz stated below that, ?The elections division is
working to neutralize the voters.? Is ridiculous. These proceedings have
been open and sincere.

In regards to Mr. Pezillo?s comments about the proposed or recommended
purchase of a ballot scanning system: this issue is not addressable by HAVA.
While it is possible that that may occur in the future, it will in all
likelihood take place under separate legislation. HAVA addresses ADA
compliant voting terminals.

Paper ballot scanning and other back-end systems fall under the purview of
the Clerk and her elections staff. These are people that have had decades of
experience in what works well and what does not. It is well recognized by
Boulder elections officials that our present system does not work well. The
leased scanners and electronic registration systems are not easily
integrated. The vendors of these disparate systems do not wish to work
together, and a great deal of difficult work must be done each time an
election is held to assure that they do. Thus it is understandable that the
Clerk and her staff would want to recommend the purchase of systems produced
by one manufacturer that are integrated.

CVV, as well as other groups across the nation, have demanded Voter
Verifiable Paper Ballots as the best (and possibly the only) method of fair
and secure elections. In Boulder County that demand has been recognized.
Most of the parties expressing an interest have stated that ballots will be
scanned for a tally. Why then do we now hear that these methods are a risk
to our Democratic Republic? How many different opinions must be endured from
the same group?

In my opinion, CVV is by far much more willing to work cooperatively than
Mr. Kolwicz. However, they?ve seemingly taken on the same methods that he
has. The door is open; the hearings will take place; citizens that care to
have input will be heard. Cooperative people will have an impact.

I applaud Mr. Pezzillo and CVV as long as they can play well with others.
Accusations of improprieties will not be helpful, especially when there
haven?t been any improprieties.

Let?s all be mindful that government is people. People have emotions.
Emotions can govern if forced to.

Paul Tiger, Legislative Director of the Libertarian Party of Colorado
LegislativeDirector@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:LegislativeDirector@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
303-774-6383 voice and messages
720-323-0570 cell
www.LPCOlorado.org <http://www.lpcolorado.org/>
"The government that governs best, governs least."
                            Thomas Jefferson

-----Original Message-----
From: Al Kolwicz [mailto:AlKolwicz@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 3:56 PM
To: CAMBER
Subject: NEWS TIP - Boulder County voter group seeks help from Commissioners

-->
Hi people,

The following letter was delivered to the Boulder County Commissioners this
afternoon, and it was just released to the press.

The Boulder County Elections Division has shut out citizens from its process
for recommending new voting equipment.

On Friday the 9th, CAMBER requested copies of the documentation used to
arrive at the recommendation.  So far, no documentation has been made
available to the public.  By withholding the documents, citizens are hard
pressed to make substantive comments.

This procurement is a County Commissioner?s decision.  We will do all that
we can to learn the facts.  We are developing a citizen?s list of voting
system requirements and will do what we can to ensure that the new voting
system meets these requirements.

We must ensure that Boulder County?s new voting system is secure, accurate
and trustworthy.  We?ll look for your letters and your participation in
future public hearings.

Spread the word.  The elections division is working to neutralize the
voters.

Al

------------------------------------------
Al Kolwicz
CAMBER - Citizens for Accurate Mail Ballot Election Results
2867 Tincup Circle
Boulder, CO 80305
303-494-1540
AlKolwicz@xxxxxxxxx

From: <?/color><?color><?param 0000,0000,0000><?/color>jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx
<?color><?param 0000,0000,0000>Subject: <?/color><?color><?param
0000,0000,0000><?/color>CVV Elections System Public Response
<?color><?param 0000,0000,0000>Date: <?/color><?color><?param
0000,0000,0000><?/color>January 12, 2004 2:18:03 PM MST
<?color><?param 0000,0000,0000>To: <?/color><?color><?param
0000,0000,0000><?/color>commissioners@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<?color><?param 0000,0000,0000>Cc: <?/color><?color><?param
0000,0000,0000><?/color>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