City Response to "Freedom to run our own election?"

[Neal McBurnett <neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Below is the response I got to my letter to council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It includes some useful citations.  More importantly, it looks like the
issue will again in front of council for the "january 30" packet.  That
is a Sunday, but the packets usually come out on Thursday so I'm
confused.  I guess this is different from the meeting agenda packet.
But it would be ripe for public comment after it comes out, perhaps at
the Tuesday Feb 1st meeting?  Who can check that out?

At any rate this is another good opportunity for people to address
council on the issue, and to work with Alisa in the meantime.

I think we need to get council to require a 1% manual tally (as
required by law in California) for the March election, and also put
it in the code for future elections.

I think another critical change would be to specify a different voting
method, especially for these special elections.  Currently, lots of
people run, but people can only vote for one.  That leads to terrible
"strategic voting" dilemmas for voters, especially when there is no
polling info and it is very unclear who has a good chance to win, and
would benefit most from your vote.

We should use approval voting instead - people should be able to vote
for as many as they like, and the one with the most votes wins.  See

 http://bcn.boulder.co.us/government/approvalvote/

for more info.

Send your input to the council, at least to request legal analysis as
Alisa writes!

Cheers,

Neal McBurnett                 http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/
Signed and/or sealed mail encouraged.  GPG/PGP Keyid: 2C9EBA60


----- Forwarded message from Alisa Lewis -----

>>> Alisa Lewis 1/19/2005 2:17:06 PM >>>
Mr. McBurnett:
Thank you for your inquiry relating to City of Boulder elections.  You
have raised many good questions that will require significant legal
analysis.  This would require a vote of five councilmembers to request
that this become a project for the City Clerk and City Attorney.  I will
be preparing a Weekly Information Packet item for Council asking for
direction.  The City Attorney and I have discussed this and feel the
timing is right to review our entire election process.

Our elections are currently governed by four sets of legal parameters: 
the State Uniform Election Code as adopted by Council, the Secretary of
State Election rules and regulations, the City of Boulder Home Rule
Charter, and Title 13, Sections 1 - 4 of the Boulder Revised Code, 1981.

Due to the number of changes since the 2000 election, the City Attorney
and I think it would be a good idea to review and analyze potential
revisions. You can access the Council WIP (Weekly Information Packet) on
line at http://www.ci.boulder.co.us/clerk/WIP/index1.html I plan to submit
this for the packet on January 30, 2005.

Best Regards,

Alisa D. Lewis, CMC
Director of Support Services/City Clerk
City of Boulder
303-441-3013
lewisa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

>>> Neal McBurnett <neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 1/7/2005 10:35:15 AM >>>
Many citizens in the City of Boulder have been very frustrated with
the way recent elections have been run by the Secretary of State and
the County Clerk.  There is continued interest in more local control.

A basic question is, do we have the freedom to run our own election?
A case in point is the upcoming municipal election for council, but
this is also a more general question.  I note that Boulder is a "Home
Rule" municipality, and that this election is not part of a
coordinated election.

Would it be possible, now or in the future, to run a purely municipal
election according to our own best judgement?  What state, county or
federal laws might constrain what we could do?

I am encouraged by this introductory quote from the Colorado Revised
Statutes, which indicates that it does not cover all elections:

ARTICLE 1
ELECTIONS GENERALLY
PART 1 DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PROVISIONS
1-1-102. Applicability.

(1) This code applies to all general, primary, congressional vacancy,
school district, special district, ballot issue, and other authorized
elections unless otherwise provided by this code. This code applies to
any municipal election conducted as part of a coordinated election
except to the extent that this code conflicts with a specific charter
provision. Any municipality may provide by ordinance or resolution
that it will utilize the requirements and procedures of this code in
lieu of the "Colorado Municipal Election Code of 1965", article 10 of
title 31, C.R.S., with respect to any election.

Has Boulder has adopted this code for its own use?  Do we have any
conflicting charter provisions?

Is anyone aware of any other applicable law?

I know council and the clerk have recently decided to contract with
the County Clerk to coordinate the upcoming election, and that implies
some constraints on how it is run.  Does it include potential
oversight from the Secretary of State?

Could the city require that a manual tally be used, e.g. to audit 1%
of the ballots as is done in California?  I participated in that sort
of hand count during the recent recount, and would really like to see
that as a minimum, as a way to improve confidence in the County's
current voting system.

Whether there is time before March, and whether it would be worth the
costs of setting up our own elections division, are different matters,
but I'd like to start by understanding what the potential is.

Would some council members be willing to ask for some insight from the
City Attorney's office?

Thanks,

Neal McBurnett                 http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/
303-494-6493
Signed and/or sealed mail encouraged.  GPG/PGP Keyid: 2C9EBA60

----- End forwarded message -----