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Publish Date: 3/16/2006
Threat clouds voting tutorial
Official pleads for peace during preview of ballot equipment
BOULDER ? County elections coordinator Josh Liss pleaded for voting rights activists to adopt a more civil tone Wednesday after an activist sent a member of an elections panel a ?thinly veiled death threat? by e-mail earlier this week.
?This sort of behavior is disgusting, ignorant and unacceptable,? Liss said at the start of the committee?s meeting, at which it observed a demonstration of handicap-accessible voting equipment.
The threat came after an electronic exchange between Bo Shaffer, who sits on the committee that is assessing voting equipment likely to be used in this November?s election, and Boulder activist Evan Ravitz.
Ravitz grew angry earlier this week when Shaffer accused several activists of creating controversy for their own ?self-aggrandizement? and called one activist crazy in an e-mail.
?You want to express your ugly self?? Ravitz fired back. ?Come over to my place and say your ugly (expletive) in person like a man. And remember Colorado?s ?Make My Day? Law.?
The 1985 statute protects property owners who defend themselves against intruders of their homes from facing prosecution for assault or other violent crimes.
County employees gave the Ravitz e-mail to a sheriff?s deputy, but no investigation is planned, county attorney Shelley Bailey said.
Ravitz, who did not attend the meeting, said Liss blew the comment out of proportion.
?It was kind of a joke, but it was also to get Bo to straighten up and fly right, because he was insulting people,? Ravitz said.
?I don?t own any guns,? he added.
Shaffer, a former Libertarian candidate for state Senate, said he isn?t concerned.
?To me, it was just a lapse in judgment,? he said. ?I didn?t take it seriously.?
Still, Liss found the comment unacceptable.
?I don?t think that sort of thing?s the least bit amusing,? he said. ?The last thing I want is for members of this committee to feel threatened.?
Pleas for harmony aside, Wednesday?s meeting was uneventful.
Officials kept voting activists and reporters behind a rope while representatives of Hart InterCivic demonstrated their company?s handicap-accessible voting machines. Later, officials let the well-behaved audience members cross the barrier to observe the tutorial up close.
A sheriff?s deputy stood watch in the back of the room.
Boulder County election officials often deal with fervent voting activists ? especially after the messy November 2004 election, which saw the county?s $1.4 million Hart InterCivic balloting system reject hundreds of ballots due to tiny printing errors.
Hart is the only manufacturer that offered to lease handicap-accessible voting machines to the county this November.
The panel that met Wednesday will ultimately rule whether the county should rent Hart?s machines for the upcoming election.
The panel will make its recommendation to county commissioners in the coming weeks.
Brad Turner can be reached at 720-494-5420, or by e-mail at bturner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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