Colorado Voter Group
The
Colorado Voter Group is a private sector entity that is working to improve the
Colorado election system. This BLOG is used to communicate with the public.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
The Colorado Secretary of State
and several county clerks are scheming to overturn the 2002 vote which rejected
the use of mail ballot elections for major elections. Rumors persist that
certain state legislators are involved in the plot.
Colorado Voter Group hopes to inform readers of the background and facts
regarding Colorado's current voting system mess.
1. In
November 2002, Colorado voters rejected Amendment 28, which would have deprived
voters of the right to vote in precincts by anonymous ballot.
63 of 64 Colorado counties voted this amendment down. 757,299 voters, nearly 60
percent of the votes, voted “no”. See election results on pages 145
and 159 of the November
2002 Abstract of Votes.
2. It appears from a Rocky Mountain News article, County
clerks urge all-mail vote in '08, that county clerks are meeting in secret
with the Secretary of State to overturn the vote of the people.
Further, it appears that clerks were not informed that the Colorado Voter Group
has already submitted to the Secretary of State a workable voting alternative
in the event that voting equipment is decertified. This alternative fulfills
both the law and the wishes of the people of Colorado, and is a superior
alternative to mail ballot elections.
3. Mail ballot elections have been proven to be undesirable. They are not
secure, not accurate, not verifiable, not accessible, not anonymous, not
transparent, and not accountable. Those who claim otherwise are either not
informed or don’t care.
None of the problems brought out during the debate on Amendment 28 have been
fixed.
The
Rocky Mountain News published an Editorial, Don't
take chance on mail ballots.
The Denver Post published PRO-CON opinions of Rutt Bridges (Bighorn Center) and
Al Kolwicz (CAMBER) that addressed many of the issues.
CBS investigative reporter Rick Salinger, in an October 31, 2002 televised
report, disproved the accuracy and security claims of election officials.
It is wrong for Colorado officials to secretly scheme to override the vote of
the people.
It would be wrong to force Colorado voters to vote using a system that cannot
be trusted because it cannot be verified.
Colorado legislators should reject any attempt to get them to join in this
conspiracy to override the will of Colorado voters. They should use their
position of trust to represent the people, not the bureaucracy.
We challenge the Secretary of State, the county clerks, and Colorado
Legislators to an independently moderated public debate on whether mail ballot
elections are secure, accurate, verifiable, anonymous, accessible, accountable,
and transparent.