Re: Comment OPPOSED to Voting System Purchase

[<delta@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Do you all realize that you are NOT advising anyone about your concerns, nor
providing "assistance" anymore?
You are actually trying to *dictate* actions?
You are making DEMANDS.......not suggesting routes of action, like ONCE was
the goal.......

and all this *constant* deriding of the "Election Office".......these are
people *trying* to do the right thing.....they're NOT hidden anarchists and
incompetent boobs, for the most part. (tho there may be a couple of hidden
boobs in the woodpile, the top administration is well aware of them)

This is why *I* for one have backed off this CVV group......
I'm tired of hearing everything and everyone who *doesn't* agree 100% with
CVV demands, made out to be grossly incompetent or criminally negligent.

This is an issue with valid points on *both* sides......
What happened to the spirit of cooperation?

Bo Shaffer

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Pezzillo" <jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Citizens for Verifiable Voting" <cvv-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<commissioners@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Leslie Lacy" <llacy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 1:09 PM
Subject: Comment OPPOSED to Voting System Purchase


>
> 4/26/04
>
> To: Boulder County Citizens & Board of Commissioners
>
> Fellow Boulder County Citizens:
>
> Our so-called representatives have ultimately failed us.
>
> We have made it clear that we do not support any purchase of any voting
> system at this time, that we do not support the storage of votes
> electronically under any circumstances, that accuracy is more important
> than speed, and that undisclosed voting software is entirely unwelcome
> in our community.
>
> And what do we get? An over-inflated purchase contract for a system for
> which our own elected representatives and paid staff cannot guarantee
> us that there will be any verification of results and that the "Paper
> Ballots" central to the voting process may not even legally be treated
> as such. Not to mention only a few days to review hundreds of pages of
> contract language (and then only thanks to a dedicated Citizen's
> efforts) to attempt to find additional fault with an already flawed
> process that is being forced upon us at great taxpayer expense at the
> same time we are told we face an ongoing budget crisis.
>
> Based on even a brief reading of the contract, there are clearly new
> problems compounding the already broken process that produced it. For
> example, the term "eSlate" -- the vendor's brand for unverifiable
> computer terminal voting equipment -- appears repeatedly, making it
> suddenly unclear again what system is actually being "purchased" now
> and going forward, that among other unexplained costs there is $10,000
> apportioned for some type of electronic vote communications system that
> has heretofore not been mentioned. Most importantly though, absolutely
> no provision has been made in the contract to answer Boulder County
> Citizens' specific requirements for Trustworthy Elections for which
> both the Commissioners and the County Clerk's office have been
> repeatedly requested, and thus, no accountability for not meeting our
> requirements, either.
>
> Furthermore, it is clear that the only "purchase" being made is largely
> of hardware destined to be obsolete well within the expected lifespan
> of a voting system, and that any and all of the vendor's software will
> only be "leased" to the County requiring renewed annual payments that
> are not detailed. It is also not clear why, for example, "Three
> Workstations per Scanner" are required, since no such operational or
> technical information to explain these extraneous and inconsistent
> components has been provided to the Citizens despite repeated requests.
>
> The Citizens of Boulder County have made it abundantly clear in
> multiple presentations to the Commissioners and County Clerk that,
> among other concerns, "Accuracy is more important than Speed" in the
> tabulation of results, yet it appears that the Commissioners completely
> ignored this and in direct contradiction to the Citizen's requests,
> instructed the County Clerk's office to "purchase" additional equipment
> with the expressed intent of increasing the Speed, not the Accuracy, of
> counting. Furthermore, despite the Commissioners' voiced concerns about
> the state's unconscionable laws regarding recount methodology, they are
> continuing to support the purchase of a system for which the legal
> status of recounting is at best deliberately vague.
>
> Instead, the Commissioners are essentially rubber-stamping a contract
> by and for an Elections Office that despite months of opportunity, has
> failed to demonstrated that it either cares for or is capable of
> conducting quality elections by: using an uncertified system during the
> last election (for which there has been no known accountability);
> failing to demonstrate proper procedures (leading to a complete recount
> of the same election); and repeatedly dismissing the detailed concerns
> and requirements of local citizens and national experts with much
> greater knowledge of technological systems than they admit to possess.
> Instead of any professional verification and documentation of such
> claims and correction of such issues, "our" Elections Office has
> continuously relied on the verbal assurances of multiple vendors for
> whom there is no doubt substantial profit motive in every transaction,
> and ignored the growing body of public evidence that suggests virtually
> all existing electronic voting equipment is unsuitable for use in
> elections.
>
> While it is already clear that despite repeated warnings from the
> Citizens NOT to purchase any system at this time, the Commissioners and
> County Clerk's office will forge ahead in unison to waste our money,
> continue to work in disregard for their constituents' requirements, and
> remain wholly unrepresentative of the People's interests regarding this
> matter. Indeed Boulder County's Elections Manager is quoted in the
> Boulder Daily Camera as being more concerned about the interests of the
> private investors of the vendor than the requirements of the people he
> was hired to serve.
>
> Please let this comment stand as public record that although large
> numbers of local citizens continue to attempt to provide highly
> valuable assistance in this process to achieve Trustworthy Elections,
> the County has deliberately and collectively ignored them and thus
> failed in their commission as representatives of the public's
> interests, and that these repeated failures on this matter both
> directly and indirectly undermine the central premise of Democracy that
> Citizens hold dear and to which we are entitled, namely trust in the
> system and its processes.
>
> Be it by ignorance or intent makes no difference, may Our Democracy
> survive such blatant and repeated disregard for the most fundamental
> act of legitimizing governance.
>
> Disappointed Boulder County, Colorado Citizen,
>
> Joe Pezzillo
> PO Box J
> Boulder, Colorado USA
> jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx
>
>
>