RE: Poll watchers and the definition of VERIFY

["Judd Choate" <Judd.Choate@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Mary.  I forwarded your email to Maurie.  Thanks, Judd

 

 

Judd Choate, Ph.D., J.D.

Director, Division of Elections

Colorado Department of State

1700 Broadway - Suite 200

Denver, CO 80290

303-894-2200 - Office

303-869-4861 - Fax

judd.choate@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:judd.choate@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 

 

 

 

From: Mary Eberle [mailto:m.eberle@xxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 11:19 AM
To: Attorney General's Office
Cc: Margit Johansson; Angie Layton; Marilyn R Marks; Mary Eberle; joseph
richey; Harvie Branscomb; Kathryn Wallace; Mary Eberle; Colorado Voter
Group; Citizens for Verifiable Voting; Sunny Maynard; Tom Morris; Jon
Ehrlich; Laurie Bretz; Catherine Lo; Dan Leftwich; Dan Martin; Deb
Adams; Larry Steven Bowlds; Peter or Alison Richards; Yvonne Iden;
Barbara Dungey; Catherine Jarrett; Stith Bennett; Geof Cahoon; Paul
Walmsley; Ralph Shnelvar; Joe Pezzillo; Lou Puls; Neal McBurnett; Judd
Choate
Subject: Poll watchers and the definition of VERIFY

 

Dear Attorney General's Office of the State of Colorado,

Please forward this message to Mr. Maurice Knaizer, who is the person in
the Attorney General's office mentioned by Elections Director Judd
Choate in a recent email. Mr. Knaizer is going to be writing an opinion
regarding the six-foot rule as it applies to elections.

Please also confirm to me that this message was received and forwarded
to Mr. Knaizer. Thank you.

Mary C. Eberle
m.eberle@xxxxxxxxxxxx

************************************************************************

Dear Mr. Knaizer,

The law does not refer to poll watchers' verifying a process, as stated
by Mr. Choate. It refers to verifying steps in the process, including
the count. The six-foot rule applies in the voting place and is designed
to protect a voter from having his or her marked ballot seen while still
in his or her possession.

Please see the message below sent by me to Mr. Choate. In various
communications, he has tried to make the word "verify" mean "observe,"
but that is not the dictionary-based definition. If the legislature
meant "observe," that is the word that would have been in the statute.
In addition, the law allows watchers to assist in corrections of
discrepancies, which can't be reasonably done from a distance. Once
ballots are cast and thus separated from the voters themselves, all
ballots must be available for close scrutiny to assure election
transparency. Transparency benefits everyone, winners and losers alike.

It will be consistent with Colorado law and in the best interests of
voters and candidates in the November election if you indicate to Mr.
Choate that poll watchers have the right to verify the count and assist
in correcting discrepancies by viewing the ballots after they are cast.

I hope to hear from you that you agree with the common English
definitions that would allow continued transparency of our elections.
Thank you.

Yours truly,
Mary C. Eberle 

 

 

From: Mary Eberle [mailto:m.eberle@xxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2010 11:30 PM
To: Judd Choate
Cc: Colorado Secretary of State; Bill Hobbs; Margit Johansson; Angie
Layton; Marilyn R Marks; Mary Eberle; joseph richey; Harvie Branscomb;
Kathryn Wallace; Al Kolwicz; Dr. Charles E. Corry; Barrie Hartman; Jim
Davis; Jay Holloway; Linda Flack; Ann Toll; Stith Bennett; Geof Cahoon;
Ralph Shnelvar; Joe Pezzillo; Lou Puls; Neal McBurnett; Paul Walmsley;
Sunny Maynard; Tom Morris; Jon Ehrlich; Laurie Bretz; Catherine Lo; Dan
Leftwich; Dan Martin; Deb Adams; Larry Steven Bowlds; Peter or Alison
Richards; Barbara Dungey; Catherine Jarrett; Yvonne Iden; Bill Eberle;
Carol Atkinson; Nina Herrick; Dee Huntley; Marjorie McCurtain; David
Clifton; Kathleen Adair; William Atkinson; Sandra Renna; Dr. Emily
Rucker; Sharon Diehl; Mary Eberle
Subject: definition of VERIFY

 

Dear Judd,

Word has it that you are planning to interpret the common English verb
"verify" to mean "observe" when it comes to the role that poll watchers
may play in our elections. Those two words do not have the same
connotation. Please see the definition of "verify" below as well as
synonyms and antonyms. "Verify" is a much more active word than
"observe." Use of the verb "verify" requires that the subject of the
verb do something, not merely view a situation.