RE: Citizens Committee on Election Reform Proposal

["Some Guy" <someguy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Joe (et al),

In my letter to the commissioners and the clerk asking for a position on the
'review' committee I noted that the HAVA advisory committee was really not
allowed to finish its work. Within a few weeks of completing our task the
county and the clerk appeared to lose interest and seemed to be coming to
their own conclusions.

That impression gelled on the very day that we attempted to deliver our
findings. The 12th of December 03. The day prior Joe and members of CVV gave
a 10 minute presentation to the BOCC on what HAVA really meant and why
buying DRE was such a bad plan.

Few people who were members of the HAVA advisory committee bothered to show
up on the morning of the 12th, since they'd either read the papers about the
BOCC hearing the day before, or were called by the elections staff and told
that they were no longer needed. But some citizen members did show up
despite being 'blown off' by the county.
At the start of that meeting, Tom Halicki explained that the BOCC had made a
decision not to purchase DRE at this time, but may do so in the future. We
were thanked for our service and for all intents and purposes were released
from our duties on the committee.
Members of CVV who were present at that meeting will recall that I demanded
that the clerk and county hear our advisement, despite what the BOCC had
decided the day before. We were heard, and our advisement was if and when
DRE were purchased that the Hart/Intercivic E-Slate had received committee
accolades, with the Avante system as a close second. The Avante was the only
system presented that produced a paper ballot; and the E-Slate the easiest
to use for the disabled. Our goal had been to suggest a system that was
ADA-HAVA compliant.

My point in this relation of history is that the county had empanelled an
advisory committee; spent a good deal of money on it; pulled in lots of
resources and vendors; and had many people working very hard on this
project.
And then with little fanfare told us on the very day that we were to deliver
our findings - that we had no job and our work was being disrespected.

This is not the first time that the BOCC has done such a thing. I've watched
it occur in other areas such as land use.

So my fear would be that the BOCC and the Clerk are once again putting
together a 'feel -good' campaign and that the work of this new committee
will be entirely ignored. I have doubts that the findings of the county
committee will have much impact, given past experience. The BOCC and the
Clerk may use the work of the committee to foist their own plans on the
electoral population.

This is reminiscent of the DOE being allowed to investigate itself by the
DOJ during the cold war. Anyone with background in our region can recall how
the FBI ended up discovering huge cover-ups at Rocky Flats by the Dept of
Energy.
This is the norm in Boulder and beyond. Right now the Boulder PD is
investigating itself concerning the hill riots.

If any of you manage to find a position on the about-to-be-formed county-run
committee, do not let the county decide on what music you will dance to.

Some Guy who doesn't dance to other people's music

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Pezzillo [mailto:jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2004 2:47 PM
To: Cvv-Discuss@Coloradovoter. Net
Subject: Citizens Committee on Election Reform Proposal


CVV:

Based on several discussions I've had over the last two days, it seems
clear that there is a great deal of dubiousness about the potential
effectiveness of the County's proposed "Elections Review" committee as
it is being chartered.

Thus, with others, I propose that we establish an independent and
parallel "Citizens Election Review Committee" that will both attempt to
provide the public with factual information about what went wrong and
specific recommendations that will prevent such a debacle from
recurring.

In addition to providing the leadership that Boulder County citizens
have come to expect from CVV on this issue -- including what Boulder
County should do next to achieve the Trustworthy Elections that we have
been denied -- I personally feel that the other purpose of this
Citizen's Committee will be to prevent additional misinformation being
disseminated by the Elections Office and County Information Officer,
hold our officials accountable, and clean up the mess that is our
current Elections Office.

Again, this is a proposal to have a parallel committee that is outside
the control or influence of the Elections Office that will also provide
a public report on what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening
again.

Is there agreement among CVV on the need for this citizen's committee
or do folks feel confident that the Commissioner's review panel will be
sufficient? I would also like to try and include others local citizens
that have not previously participated in CVV, in particular, poll
watchers and elections judges who may also have information and
opinions about the internal workings of our Elections Office.

If there is no serious objection, I also propose to alert the press to
the formation of this committee ASAP so that we can get the maximum
coverage and awareness in advance of our first public meeting.

Joe

Joe Pezzillo, Citizen Activist
Boulder, Colorado USA
jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx