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Colorado's voting system has crashed.



 

Colorado’s voting system has crashed. 

 

  • The Secretary of State’s office is operating as a shield that protects election officials and hardware suppliers.

 

  • The Legislature is totally ignored – as if it never existed. 

 

  • The Courts are refusing to find election officials guilty of violations – no matter how flagrant.

 

  • The Political Parties have been neutered, and are no longer providing independent oversight of elections.

 

  • There is no accountability, no security, no verifiability, and no rule of law.

 

If you had fleeting hope for a trustworthy election – I suggest that you forget it.

 

Read the email below if you are can stand it.  Basically, Boulder County has started the vote counting process using equipment with many known defects.  Officials are abusing their positions to cover up their bad decision to purchase HART InterCivic vote counting equipment – despite intense citizen pressure against doing so. 

 

For refusing to perform their duties to protect our election, shame on Boulder County’s Commissioners, the Boulder County Clerk, and the Secretary of State – shame, shame, shame.

 

 

Al Kolwicz

 

 

 


From: alkolwicz [mailto:alkolwicz@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2004 3:45 PM
To: Donetta Davidson (SOS.Admin1@xxxxxxxxxxx)
Cc: Drew Durham (drew.durham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx); Linda Salas (lsalas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx); David Leeds (LEEDS9069@xxxxxxx); Bill Eckert (eckert@xxxxxxxxxxxx); Shannon Robinson (sar.pc@xxxxxxx); Robert Corry (Robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Subject: URGENT - Boulder County scanning ballots on untested equipment.

 

Sent BY FAX:   303-869-4861

 

Dear Secretary Davidson,

 

Boulder County is violating C.R.S. 1-7-506. Electronic vote-counting – test, and Colorado Election Rules 11.4.5(b and c), and 27.3.3(b).

 

After terminating an unsuccessful part 1 of the Logic and Accuracy Test, Boulder County:

(1)   has not corrected the cause of discrepancies,

(2)   has performed maintenance on the equipment,

(3)   has augmented the test deck without political party oversight, and

(4)   has violated the county’s own plan for testing the electronic vote counting equipment.

 

Scanning has commenced before the second part of the LAT has been run.

 

Problems discovered during part 1 have been documented and filed with the boulder County Clerk Salas.

 

When I discussed this with Clerk Linda Salas, this afternoon, she told me that they were going to run the second part of the LAT on Election Day.  If in fact the logic and accuracy test is testing the actual vote counting system, and not a fake vote counting system, then it will be impossible to run part 2 of the LAT.

 

What shall we do to ensure that the vote counting system is correctly counting votes?

 

Al Kolwicz

 

 

Al Kolwicz

 

Boulder County Republican Party

Election Representative

2867 Tincup Circle

Boulder, CO 80305

303-494-1540

AlKolwicz@xxxxxxxxx

www.users.qwest.net/~alkolwicz

http://coloradovoter.blogspot.com 

 

 

 

 

Boulder County LAT plan October 8, 2004

 

For the first LAT, occurring 24 hours before any scanning takes place, the results will be recorded in the Tally report as Absentee Voting.  The second LAT, which will take place on Election Day prior to any scanning, will be recorded as Early Voting.  The final, post-Election LAT will be recorded in the Tally report as Election Day.  This way, the results of the three LAT’s can be compared to one another on the same document, using the same database. 

 

 

1-7-506. Electronic vote-counting - test.

Statute text

(1) (a) The designated election official shall have the electronic vote-counting equipment tested at each counting center in the manner prescribed in this section to ascertain that it will accurately count the votes cast for all offices and ballot issues. The electronic equipment shall be tested at least three times, once on the day before the election, again just prior to the start of the count on election day, and finally at the conclusion of the counting. The designated election official may make any additional tests deemed necessary.

(b) For the purpose of testing an electronic voting device which records votes on a paper tape and simultaneously on an electronic tabulating device, the election judges in any precinct using the device shall run a paper tape prior to opening the polls, label it, and return it to the designated election official in the transfer case, together with one copy of the tape of votes cast and the electronic tabulating device.

(2) The designated election official shall give to the county chairpersons of the major political parties or their official representatives and to the county chairperson or official representative of any minor political party who notifies the designated election official no less than sixty days before the election of the party's desire to participate in the testing, at least twenty-five official ballots that are clearly marked as test ballots. The county chairpersons or their official representatives shall secretly vote the test ballots and retain a record of the test votes. The designated election official may also vote and retain at least twenty-five test ballots. For coordinated elections, all of the designated election officials from political subdivisions other than the county may, upon request of the officials, be given together a total of one hundred test ballots to mark among them. The designated election officials shall secretly vote their portion of the test ballots and retain a record of the test votes.

(3) The designated election official, or for partisan elections, the county clerk and recorder and county chairpersons, shall observe the tabulation of all test ballots by means of the electronic vote-counting equipment and compare the tabulation with the previously retained records of the test vote count. The cause of any discrepancies shall be corrected prior to the actual vote tabulation.

(4) All test materials when not in use shall be kept in a metal box, and the designated election official shall be the custodian of the box.

(5) For partisan elections, each county chairperson or the designee shall affix the chairperson's own seal or padlock to the metal box with the test materials. The county clerk and recorder shall be the custodian of the box, but shall not be able to open and use the test material unless the county chairpersons or designees are present and unlock the box.

(6) After the final test following the conclusion of the counting, all programs, test materials, and ballots shall be sealed and retained, as provided for paper ballots pursuant to section 1-7-307.

 

 

11.4.5 The test procedure for counting equipment shall be conducted as follows:

 

  1. The county clerk and recorder shall prepare a test deck and shall test the election program at the counting center as soon as it is received for program errors. The errors shall be corrected and the test deck re-run until the election program exactly reflects the certified ballot of candidates, offices, issues and questions.
  2. Just prior to the election, vote-counting equipment shall be tested by voting test decks of ballots at the counting center if central counters are being utilized.
  3. Before and after the count, the equipment shall be tested by voting test desks at the counting center on the equipment used to count the ballots if central counters are being utilized.
  4. Counting equipment for mark sensor ballots shall be tested on election day by judges running one zero tape before the polls open and by running two tapes after the polls are closed and returning one tape with the voted ballots in the transfer cases or by using the test deck procedures at the counting center. The second closing tape shall be posted at the precinct.

 

 

 

27.3.3 Central Count Optical Scan Procedures

 

(a)   A resolution board, consisting of a team(s) of one (1) Republican and one (1) Democrat for partisan elections or two (2) qualified election judges for nonpartisan elections, shall resolve all ballots sorted by the central count optical scan equipment.

(1)   The board shall be observed by two (2) witnesses, who in any partisan election shall be representatives of each major political party, who may not handle or process ballots.

(2)   All persons engaged in the counting and processing of ballots shall be deputized or take an oath to faithfully perform their duties.

(3)   The resolution board shall maintain a log for each step of verification, duplication, and counting according to Rule 11.5.8.

(b)   Sequence of Resolution Procedures

(1)   Testing of the optical scanner shall begin immediately prior to counting official ballots.

(2)   A zero tape shall be run indicating no votes cast or counted before the counting begins.

(3)   Official ballots shall be processed through the optical scanner, with sorted overvotes, blank ballots, and write-in ballots viewed and resolved by the resolution board. If there are no legally qualified write-in candidates, the write-in sort option shall not be utilized. The number of each duplicated ballot shall be entered on the resolution board log sheet.

(4)   All ballots which are sorted by the optical scanner and resolved by the resolution board by duplication are to be indicated as such and kept separate from the standard run ballots for the precinct.

(5)   The precinct judge’s ballot return form is compared to the number of scanned ballots for the precinct.

(6)   After the final precinct has been tallied, the total write-in votes shall be indicated on the final summary along with the seal numbers for each sealed box of scanned ballots.

(7)   The optical scanner shall be tested again by tabulating the test deck at the conclusion of the count.

(c)   Resolution of optical scan ballots

(1)   Damaged or defective ballots shall be duplicated utilizing the ballot duplication procedures as provided in Rule 27.3.3(c)(5).


(2)   Blank ballots shall be examined by the resolution board to determine if the ballot is a true blank ballot or one that has been marked with a non-detectable mark. Resolution board members must make a duplicate copy of the ballot which has been marked with a non-detectable mark utilizing the ballot duplication procedures as set forth in Rule 27.3.3(c)(5). If a ballot is truly blank it shall be sent back for the resolution pass through the scanner, and the ballot tabulated with no races, issues or questions voted.

(3)   Overvoted ballots shall be inspected by the resolution board. Ballots that reflect marks that are clearly identified as unintentional but register an overvote on the scanner must be duplicated by the resolution board utilizing the procedures for duplication of ballots.

(4)   Write-in votes sorted by the optical scan equipment on election day shall be delivered to the assigned write-in board for hand counting. In order to be counted, the oval must be darkened or the arrow connected according to the appropriate voting instructions. Only votes for legally qualified write-in candidates shall be counted.

(5)   The resolution board shall duplicate ballots by clearly labeling the new duplicate ballot as a “DUPLICATE” and assign a serial number which shall be recorded on both the original and duplicate ballot. For example, the first ballot in Precinct # 1 to be duplicated could be labeled as #1/001 with the duplicate labeled D#1/001. Original ballots shall be separated from the duplicate ballots and placed in an envelope clearly marked “ORIGINAL BALLOTS.” The duplicate ballots shall be counted in lieu of the original ballots.

(6)   The resolution board shall maintain an official audit log setting forth the original ballot number, duplicate ballot number, reason (with specificity) that the ballot was duplicated, date of duplication, and the initials of the members of the duplication board responsible for duplicating the ballot.

 

=========================================

 

 

Al Kolwicz

 

Boulder County Republican Party

Election Representative

2867 Tincup Circle

Boulder, CO 80305

303-494-1540

AlKolwicz@xxxxxxxxx

www.users.qwest.net/~alkolwicz

http://coloradovoter.blogspot.com