FW: Boulder County Clerk and Recorder confirms precinct voting in 2006

["Al Kolwicz" <alkolwicz@xxxxxxxxx>]

Check out the following article.

1.  Boulder County's decision to keep precinct voting is a good decision,
even though it is for the wrong reasons.

2.  The use of additional early voting locations is a bad idea.  Early
voting increases security and transparency threats, and it widens the
opportunity for election manipulation.

3.  We need an INDEPENDENT committee on the question of voting centers, not
a committee hand picked by the Clerk.

Al

Al Kolwicz
CAMBER - Citizens for Accurate Mail Ballot Election Results
2867 Tincup Circle
Boulder, CO 80305
303-494-1540
AlKolwicz@xxxxxxxxx
www.users.qwest.net/~alkolwicz 
www.coloradovoter.blogspot.com 

CAMBER is a dedicated group of volunteers who are working to ensure that
every voter gets to vote once, every vote is counted once, and that every
ballot is secure and anonymous.




-----Original Message-----
From: Boulder County Information [mailto:BCINFO@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Halpin, Barbara
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 4:14 PM
To: BCPRESSRELEASE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Boulder County Clerk and Recorder confirms precinct voting in 2006

	
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9 March 2006
				 
Contact: Barbara Halpin, Public Information Officer, 303-441-3399 or
				                 Josh Liss, Elections
Coordinator, 303-413-7745
				 
County Clerk and Recorder confirms precinct voting in 2006
				 
County Clerk and Recorder Linda Salas announced today that Boulder County
will continue to use regular precinct polling places in 2006.  The County
had considered switching to a "Vote Center" model for the '06 elections, but
factors in the reporting of detailed election results by precinct made such
a switch impractical this year.

The problem lies in the fact that Boulder County has commitments to provide
election results by precinct, and doing so requires a higher number of
different ballot styles for each election. In a vote center election, any
voter may visit any vote center in the County on Election Day to cast a
ballot, rather than visiting a pre-assigned precinct polling location. This
means that each vote center would have to have every ballot style on hand to
accommodate all voters.   

"We had 353 different ballot styles in the 2005 Coordinated Election, and
550 different ballot styles in the 2004 Primary Election.  That's simply too
many to have in stock at each vote center," said Elections Coordinator Josh
Liss.

This leaves the county with three options:

	1.	Eliminate reporting by precinct for the votes cast at vote
centers.

	2.	Eliminate paper ballots and have all in-person voting take
place through the use of electronic voting devices capable of storing each
of the different ballot styles.

	3.	Place several large printers at each vote center capable of
printing all paper ballots "on-demand".

Clerk and Recorder Linda Salas says that eliminating the reporting of
election results by precinct is not an option she is willing to pursue.  

"We currently report all of our election results by precinct, which is very
important to political parties, candidates and interests groups.  Since we
already provide this information, and have for years, we feel that
eliminating the practice would be a step backward," said Salas.

Salas adds that she has received numerous emails from voters within the
county who have expressed their desire to continue to vote on a paper
ballot, so eliminating that option is also not a realistic one.

"People in this county have made it very clear that they at least want the
option to vote a paper ballot.  We want to make sure that we continue to
provide them that opportunity."

Liss says the third option of printing ballots on-demand at vote center
locations would also be very costly to the county and could cause longer
lines on Election Day.

"In order to make sure there aren't long waits at the polls, we would have
to have enough printers at each vote center to quickly produce the ballots
needed.  To have several printers at each location would create additional
costs for Boulder County, not only in the cost of each printer, but also in
the logistical considerations of delivering, setting-up and retrieving
printers at each site."

Liss adds that although the county will not be using vote centers this year,
voters should expect more locations available for early voting than in years
past to accommodate the increased interest from people wanting to cast their
ballots before Election Day.

The clerk plans to form a committee comprised of representatives of the
political parties, disability community, staff and public to weigh all of
the factors and consider the use of vote centers in future elections.


				-30-

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