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Here’s what the Daily Times-Call had to say. Al CAMBER Citizens for Accurate Mail Ballot Election Results 303-494-1540 www.users.qwest.net/~alkolwicz
By Trevor Hughes The
Boulder County Commissioners on Thursday approved the $1.5 million purchase of
the “Ballot Now” system manufactured by a local company. The
approval came after a two-hour public meeting and a discernable level of
trepidation among the commissioners. Elections
officials say machines offer a greater level of reliability and reduce the
chance of human-introduced counting errors. Skeptics say hand-counting would
improve trust even if it takes longer and might occasionally be slightly
inaccurate. “I
would much prefer to see the most primitive voting system possible,” said
Martin Walter of Added
Alyne Galm: “To err is human. To really foul things up takes a computer.
I’d rather have human error than computer error.” Commissioner
“If
I had my druthers, if I thought it was physically possible, I’d want a
hand count,” Danish said. “The problem is I don’t think
it’s practical to have a hand count in a general election.” Under
state law, the same system that counted the votes must be used to recount them,
if there are questions about accuracy or fraud. That
means with a computer-counting system, vote totals will always be the same
because the law prohibits a review of the actual paper votes. Skeptics said the
best way to avoid that problem would be to hand-count everything the first
time. Danish
and other officials said that with 162,000 registered voters deciding about 30
candidates or issues per ballot, the work would be too much for human counters.
Under such a scenario, there would be 4.8 million individual selections to
tally. Responded
resident Danish
says he believes Kolwicz and other hand-count voters should petition the state
legislature to change the law. Kolwicz and other voting-integrity advocates say
they are considering a lawsuit to stop the use of electronic systems until
national standards are created. “We’ve
got a situation that is terribly unjust but possibly legal,” Kolwicz said
following the meeting. “The courts can help us fight illegalities. It
might take an election or recall to obtain justice.” While
the commissioners have approved the purchase, they are accepting written public
comments until April 27, when they will approve the actual contract with Hart
InterCivic of Lafayette. Click
on www.co.boulder.co.us/bocc to
view the proposed voting system contract and to submit written comments. Trevor
Hughes can be reached at 303-776-2244, Ext. 220, or by e-mail at thughes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx |