Re: voter intent and NOTA

[Paul E Condon <pecondon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Suppose the city has NOTA on the ballot, there are two open seats, and
a voter puts a X by one candidate name and an X by NOTA. What then? Who
decides what to do with such a ballot? What _should_ be done with such
a ballot?

Just wondering...


On Fri, Jul 08, 2005 at 03:49:16AM -0600, Some Guy wrote:
> The Boulder City charter has some interesting stuff in elections. Since it
> is home rule and the election in November is a muni one, it can follow its
> own rules and not those of the state. Below in Sec. 34
> 
> Sec. 34. Electors-form and marking of ballot.
> 
> The members of the city council shall be elected by votes cast by qualified
> electors as provided by the laws of the State of Colorado and the charter
> and ordinances of the City of Boulder. The form of ballot at such election
> shall be such that all of the duly nominated candidates for council shall be
> listed on a single ballot in alphabetical order with a reference to the
> surname of said candidates, and voting shall be by placing a cross (X)
> opposite the name of each candidate voted for, not to exceed the total
> number of council members to be elected. If any ballot shall contain more
> crossmarked candidates than there are council members to be elected, said
> ballot shall be void and not counted. (Repealed and reenacted by Ord. No.
> 1474 (1947), 1, adopted by electorate on November 4, 1947.)*
> =====
> So we have a home rule law (part of the city charter) that says that
> overvoted ballots should be ignored. It also says to use an X to mark the
> boxes, not fill them in entirely. And we have pretty good evidence that an X
> would have been fine with the Hart Ballot Now system.
> 
> The charter doesn't say anything about other options on the ballot, like
> NOTA (none of the above). The state law doesn't prohibit it either. The only
> thing keeping our clerk from adding NOTA to the ballot is fear. Fear of the
> unknown.
> Most of the countries on the planet have some sort of NOTA entry on their
> ballots. The UN suggests it to curb ballot fraud. The Iraqi elections had
> NOTA, and so did the Ukrainian elections. And yet here in Boulder we have to
> worry about ballot fraud; overvoting; and undervoting. Our clerk(s) say that
> we need to figure out voter intent. The inclusion of NOTA would leave voter
> intent up to the voter and not the clerk's staff.
> 
> Some Guy
> 

-- 
Paul E Condon           
pecondon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx