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Party primary preparation
By RICHARD VALENTY Colorado
Daily Staff Writer
Thursday, June 22, 2006 8:01 PM MDT
Boulder County election
officials are busy preparing for the Aug. 8 political party primary
elections, but not without the presence of some citizen opposition to parts
of the process.
The county recently announced that voting system vendor Hart InterCivic will
print the physical paper ballots to be used in 2006. The ballots will have
bar codes and serial numbers printed on them, and county elections
coordinator Josh Liss said Thursday that the county does not intend to have
the codes printed on a perforated, removable ballot stub.
A group of county citizens filed a lawsuit against the county in 2004 over
similar ballots, saying the non-removable markings on the ballot violate
Article Seven, Section Eight of the Colorado Constitution. That section in
short says no ballot shall be marked in a way in which it can be identified
as “the ballot of the person casting it.”
District Court Judge Morris W. Sandstead, Jr., dismissed the 2004 case. Liss
said Thursday that he hasn't heard of any planned challenge in 2006, but the
county is legally prepared to fight a similar case, and he also said the bar
codes are an “essential” component in the county's existing Hart
voting system.
“Most importantly, the ballot secrecy is always maintained because
there is no link whatsoever between the numbers and any particular
voter,” said Liss. “The numbers also help during the resolution
process. If election judges would like to look at the physical paper ballot,
they can locate that ballot within a batch by serial number and look at it to
determine voter intent.”
But Robert McGuire, the new chairman of the Boulder County Republicans,
questions whether ballot secrecy is actually guaranteed.
“If it's permanently printed on the ballot, then it's certainly linked
to the vote,” said McGuire. “If you're going to ensure integrity,
then you must ensure that people get only one ballot. If there's an audit
trail for handing out ballots to people that's sufficient to withstand
scrutiny that only people who are entitled to vote are getting ballots, then
it's a very small step to go from that process to identifying an individual
voter.”
McGuire is an attorney and an adjunct professor teaching federal election law
the University of Denver, but said he didn't follow the 2004 Boulder County case and hasn't yet heard of a
planned citizen challenge in 2006.
Liss said Thursday morning that Hart had not yet printed the county's primary
ballots, in part because it was not certain if the name of Marc Holtzman, a
Republican running for governor of Colorado,
would be on the ballot.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled later Thursday against a Holtzman appeal,
and Holtzman will not be listed on the Boulder County
primary ballot.
In fact, there won't be many contested races in Boulder County
in the 2006 primary at all. County
Democrats will choose
between Clerk and Recorder candidates Linda Salas, the incumbent, and former
Boulder County Democrats chair Hillary Hall.
Democrats living in State House District 13 will choose between candidates
Claire Levy and Jim Rettew.
Also, former Boulder County GOP chair Marty Neilson will face off against
engineer Barry Thoma in State Senate District 16.
Liss said non-registered voters must register by July 10 to vote in the
primary. Voters must be also be affiliated with the proper political party to
vote in a party's primary, but voters are legally allowed to switch
affiliations within proper time frames.
Liss said affiliated voters must switch affiliations by July 10 to vote in
another party's primary, while unaffiliated voters may switch before or up
until Election Day. Citizens may also switch back to their former affiliation
or lack of affiliation after the primary, and affiliation doesn't matter for
voting in the November general election.
Boulder County must also keep its eye on at
least one additional legal challenge. A citizen group of plaintiffs has filed
a legal action against the Secretary of State and eight Colorado
counties, including Boulder
County, seeking to
block the use of Direct Record Electronic (DRE) voting machines in 2006.
The county has completed a contract to use the Hart “eSlate” DRE
as well as the paper ballots through Ballot Now in 2006, but Liss said county
election staff and judges are currently training on the eSlate and will
continue to do so unless the courts rule in favor of the plaintiffs.
Contact Richard Valenty about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 126 or
valenty@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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