Re: Re[2]: April Fool's: Fake Xcel letter threatens to cut power to Boulder voters who favored municipalization - Boulder Daily Camera

["" <pecondon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In answer to the purpose of the bar coding, as a practical matter the bar code can be used to keep a ballot from being scanned twice or more times
during scanning phase of the process. But this may be only 'official reason'. Some "wrong thinkers and trouble makers" probably believe that it just 

an excuse and that the 'real reason' is to support the kind of attack on anonominity that you suggest. For me, I would have a hard time believing in

the integrity of any vote count where the people doing the work had no method or assuring to their own satisfaction that they had not, accidentally, processed a box of voted ballots twice. I see a conflict of goals, and I see no way of absolutely resolving it. Keep in mind that we need to keep the ballots for a possible recount, and to the naked human eye, they look just like the ballots that have not yet been counted. The people doing the work can be trained to pretend and to swear that the never make a mistake. But they are human. They do make mistakes. If the ballots were counted at each polling place, there might be less chance of accidental mix up, but much greater chance of flat out incompetence on the part of those who are 'trained'  to do the work. There is 'ideal' and there is 'real'. With the right amount of work, it should be possible for statistical experts to produce a totally fraudulent vote count and canvass report. But it would require the collusion of a lot of people to switch the fraudulent for the real. 

I agree that keeping the sheets together is a lame reason. There are a lot of lame reasons for doing things that ought to be done for some good reason, e.g "We drive on the right side of the road because we are conservatives, unlike those pinko leftists in the UK."

Peace.

--- ralphs@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

From: Ralph Shnelvar <ralphs@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Lou Puls <lou.puls@xxxxxxxxx>
CC: Mary Eberle <m.eberle@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Colorado Voter Group <ColoradoVoter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Margit Johansson <margitjo@xxxxxxxxx>, Angie Layton <angielayton@xxxxxxxx>, Harvie Branscomb <harvie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Kathryn Wallace <kathryncwallace@xxxxxxxxx>, joseph richey <richey80304@xxxxxxxxx>, Marilyn Marks <Marilyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Citizens for Verifiable Voting <cvv-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Stith Bennett <stith@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Geof Cahoon <gcahoon@xxxxxxxxx>, Paul Walmsley <paul@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Neal McBurnett <neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re[2]: April Fool's: Fake Xcel letter threatens to cut power to Boulder voters who favored municipalization - Boulder Daily Camera
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2012 12:05:48 -0600

Lou,

As I understand it, it is to keep the sheets of the ballot together.

It's a lame reason.

Ralph

Tuesday, April 3, 2012, 8:54:17 AM, you wrote:

I have often wondered if the state-mandated anonymity could be defeated by a poll observer using the serialized bar coding printed on the ballots?  What is the purpose of the bar coding? On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 8:07 AM, Mary Eberle <m.eberle@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Dear Friends of Good Voting Practices, Please see the following article, which is on the front page of today's Daily Camera:  http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_20307046/april-fools-fake-xcel-letter-threatens-cut-power#.T3sBhfl6JeE.email  It is shocking that two journalists wrote that ballots are confidential and not subject to open records requests. Journalists do not know the Colorado Open Records Act. Please add your own comment that focuses on ballots ARE open records. Thanks!  Here's what I said:  Here is the real April Fool's joke: "The letter says the company used an  open records request to get access to voter files to learn how people  voted. Yet ballots are confidential and not subject to open records  requests." Actually, ballots are not confidential, like your medical  records, which you, your doctor, and the insurance company can see but  no one else can see--that's confidentiality. Ballots are mandated to be  anonymous. ...

-- 

Best regards,

 Ralph                            mailto:ralphs@xxxxxxxxx