Dear Senator Keller,
Thank you for the detailed explanation of your actions concerning HB
1227, and congratulations on your resolution passing the Senate! It
sounds as if HB1227 had undergone some metamorphis, and I'm grateful
for the work you put into this process of addressing the concerns of
our group (Coloradoans for Voting Integrity). I'm very pleased to hear
that the bill requires a paper record to be used in a recount. I hope
there are also provisions for spot checks of the paper records to
ensure they correlate with the electronic tally, but I'd be surprised
if you were able to squeeze that much out of our Secretary of State.
I'm forwarding your message to the CVFI group, and I guess I'll get
their take on this bill at our next meeting.
Thanks again for being an advocate for our concerns.
Sincerely,
Brad Thacker
Senator Moe Keller wrote:
Dear Brad,
Thank you for your interest in the process of voting
and the need for a paper trail. I share your concern
and an actively involved discussing this issue with
both the secretary of state's office and other
legislators. Hb 1227 passed the Senate last week by a
vote of 29 to 6. I became a yes vote after much
analysis of the bill and lengthy discussions with the
secretary of state's office. The bill contains three
provisions I support : the proposal that the
secretary of state's office oversee the purchase and
certification of all county equipment before a county
clerk can use an electronic voting machine ( there is
no oversite right now and most county clerks are in
way over their heads and at the mercy of vendors right
now) ; open public meetings are required before the
state resumes purchase of DRE machines; and the fact
that the bill requires a permanent paper record be
available for a recount. In further conversations
with Mr. Drew Duram from the Secretary of State's
office, I have added three amendments to my resolution
supporting the NISt study and expressing the concern
of the State of Colorado over DRE Machines. The
amendments state that the Sec. of state's office does
not object to voter verifiable paper ballots, the
secretary of state's office opposes the use of
untested and uncertified equipment in the conduct of
elections and the sec. of state's office supports a
manual audit backup system for recounts. This
resolution just passed the Senate unanimously and with
the entire 35 members cosponsoring! Rep. Cheri Jahn
will be introducing the resolution (SJR 10) on Monday,
May 3.
Sincerely,
Senator Moe Keller
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