Subject: RE: Response to your letter of March 29th re: CORA
Dear Mr. Kolwicz:
The bottom line to all of your records requests is that the documents you are seeking are not in existence and under CORA we have no obligation to create any documents. That is not to say that the information does not exist – it does, just not in document form. As I noted before, these files cannot be exported. I have conferred with Stephanie Cegielski at the Secretary of State’s Office and she agrees with this interpretation of CORA in light of your request. In fact, she suggested, as a custodian of records, that you contact her about your request should you have any further questions. She can be reached at 894-2200 ext 6327, and I am copying her on this e-mail.
As far as Rule 45.5.2.1.7 is concerned, that Rule applies to the testing for certification process which has already occurred. Furthermore, the records you request are not “election results” as contemplated by that Rule. Therefore, that Rule is not applicable to your request.
Finally, I am aware of which Title applies to our elections. I mentioned the Pitkin County Order by way of analogy only as there are similar provisions in the Election Code.
Sincerely,
Shelley Bailey
Assistant County Attorney
Boulder County
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Public seeks scanned ballot image files from HART InterCivic system.
Shelley Bailey
Assistant County Attorney
Boulder County, Colorado
April 5, 2010
RE: Response to your March 29th letter regarding our CORA request.
Dear Ms. Bailey:
We have studied your letter of March 29, 2010. Perhaps you were rushed in preparing your letter since it contains several significant errors of law. I have copied the text of your letter into numbered sections below so that we may conveniently respond to each section.
1. First, our system does not allow us to export these files.
If this is true, then the voting system is defective. Colorado Election Rule 45.5.2.1.7 requires that all election data be exportable. If “your” system does not comply with this Rule, as an agent of the court you should report this fact to the Secretary of State and ask that its certification be withdrawn.
2. Second, under statutory law, C.R.S. 31-10-616(1),[…]the clerk is to keep the ballots secret and to preserve them for access only for contest proceedings.
Boulder County elections are conducted under Title 1, not Title 31. Title 31 has absolutely nothing to do with our elections. Surely you must know this.
For your information, you infer that Title 31 has something to do with the computer files that we have requested. A careful reading shows that this is not true. 31-10-616(1) describes when the actual ballots may be removed from the ballot box, and when they must be destroyed. As you must know, we are not seeking access to the actual ballots. 31-10-616(2) explicitly does not restrict access to or require destruction of any “other official election records and forms”.
3. and [under] Article VII, Section 8 of the State’s Constitution, the clerk is to keep the ballots secret and to preserve them for access only for contest proceedings.
There is no such language in Article VII, Section 8. It does not say anything about “keeping ballots secret” or “preserving ballots”. Surely you must know this.
What Article VII, Section 8 does say, explicitly, is, “no ballots shall be marked in any way whereby the ballot can be identified as the ballot of the person casting it”. Boulder County routinely violates this Constitutional provision. It is the intent of the 1946 Constitutional Amendment that created this protection that every ballot must be anonymous – meaning that there is no way to identify which voter marked which ballot.
4. Your CORA request is not a proceeding to contest the election, and the time for such a contest has passed.
We made no claim to contest the election. Surely you must know this. Further, your comment suggests that you are confusing Title 31 and Title 1 election laws. (See discussion in #2 above.)
5. C.R.S. 31-10-1303 See also Marks v Koch, Case Number P09CV294, Pitkin County (e-mail to follow) Therefore, these records are not available pursuant to a CORA request.
To repeat, Title 31 is not relevant to Title 1 elections.
6. It has always been the County’s position, as well as the secretary of state’s position, that it would do substantial harm to the public interest to allow the release of mail ballot images.
If you have documentation supporting this assertion we would like to review it. I do not recall any published arguments from Boulder County detailing the harm that might occur by releasing to the public copies of computer files containing scanned images of anonymous ballots.
We have a December 18, 2009 document from Secretary of State Buescher saying in part, “…I am not opposed in principle to the public disclosure of images …”.
7. The County has never released ballot images.
This is a problem for the public. For a number of years we have submitted CORA requests for the data and have never been given the opportunity to inspect the data.
8. Finally, our system does not allow us to export these files. They are only viewable with Ballot Now, proprietary software, in our database.
To repeat, this is a violation of Election Rule 45.5.2.1.7.
If need be, we are willing to negotiate ways that the county can meet its obligations by providing us access to the proprietary software so that we may inspect the records in Boulder County’s database.
9. With regard to your request for the cast vote records, again, the County’s system does not allow the export of these files.
To repeat, this is a violation of Election Rule 45.5.2.1.7.
If need be, we are willing to negotiate ways that the county can meet its obligations by providing us access to the proprietary software so that we may inspect the records in Boulder County’s database.
10. Cast vote records are not the same as results, and they cannot be printed out. They are the record of how Ballot Now tabulates each ballot.
In the first place, you should know that we have not requested a printout of the cast vote records. Our request is to inspect the actual cast vote records. Once we see these records, we will decide whether or not to request copies of the computer files containing them.
Also, for your information, you have been misinformed. The cast vote records are NOT a record of how BallotNow “tabulates” each ballot. The cast vote records are the record of how BallotNow “interprets” each vote on each ballot. The votes on the cast vote records are subsequently tabulated by a program referred to as TALLY.
11. The statement of vote is available, however.
We are not, at this time, seeking access to the statement of vote.
12. I am still working on the administrative logs that you requested and will get an answer to you as soon as possible. Could you please explain with specificity what it is you are asking for?
To expedite this response, please provide us with a list of the official titles and summary description of all files created and/or maintained by the HART voting system. We have found that when we do not ask for an exact file name, we are not able to make a request that staff understands.
Now that we have presented and directed you to the correct legal framework, we expect you to promptly arrange for us to inspect the materials we have requested.
Please let me know when we may review the materials.
Sincerely,
Al Kolwicz
Colorado Voter Group
CC:
Hillary Hall, Boulder County Clerk & Recorder
Bernie Buescher, Colorado Secretary of State
Judd Choate, Director, Colorado Division of Elections
Harvie Branscomb, Trustee, Colorado Voter Group
Assistant County Attorney
Boulder County, Colorado
April 5, 2010
RE: Response to your March 29th letter regarding our CORA request.
Dear Ms. Bailey:
We have studied your letter of March 29, 2010. Perhaps you were rushed in preparing your letter since it contains several significant errors of law. I have copied the text of your letter into numbered sections below so that we may conveniently respond to each section.
1. First, our system does not allow us to export these files.
If this is true, then the voting system is defective. Colorado Election Rule 45.5.2.1.7 requires that all election data be exportable. If “your” system does not comply with this Rule, as an agent of the court you should report this fact to the Secretary of State and ask that its certification be withdrawn.
2. Second, under statutory law, C.R.S. 31-10-616(1),[…]the clerk is to keep the ballots secret and to preserve them for access only for contest proceedings.
Boulder County elections are conducted under Title 1, not Title 31. Title 31 has absolutely nothing to do with our elections. Surely you must know this.
For your information, you infer that Title 31 has something to do with the computer files that we have requested. A careful reading shows that this is not true. 31-10-616(1) describes when the actual ballots may be removed from the ballot box, and when they must be destroyed. As you must know, we are not seeking access to the actual ballots. 31-10-616(2) explicitly does not restrict access to or require destruction of any “other official election records and forms”.
3. and [under] Article VII, Section 8 of the State’s Constitution, the clerk is to keep the ballots secret and to preserve them for access only for contest proceedings.
There is no such language in Article VII, Section 8. It does not say anything about “keeping ballots secret” or “preserving ballots”. Surely you must know this.
What Article VII, Section 8 does say, explicitly, is, “no ballots shall be marked in any way whereby the ballot can be identified as the ballot of the person casting it”. Boulder County routinely violates this Constitutional provision. It is the intent of the 1946 Constitutional Amendment that created this protection that every ballot must be anonymous – meaning that there is no way to identify which voter marked which ballot.
4. Your CORA request is not a proceeding to contest the election, and the time for such a contest has passed.
We made no claim to contest the election. Surely you must know this. Further, your comment suggests that you are confusing Title 31 and Title 1 election laws. (See discussion in #2 above.)
5. C.R.S. 31-10-1303 See also Marks v Koch, Case Number P09CV294, Pitkin County (e-mail to follow) Therefore, these records are not available pursuant to a CORA request.
To repeat, Title 31 is not relevant to Title 1 elections.
6. It has always been the County’s position, as well as the secretary of state’s position, that it would do substantial harm to the public interest to allow the release of mail ballot images.
If you have documentation supporting this assertion we would like to review it. I do not recall any published arguments from Boulder County detailing the harm that might occur by releasing to the public copies of computer files containing scanned images of anonymous ballots.
We have a December 18, 2009 document from Secretary of State Buescher saying in part, “…I am not opposed in principle to the public disclosure of images …”.
7. The County has never released ballot images.
This is a problem for the public. For a number of years we have submitted CORA requests for the data and have never been given the opportunity to inspect the data.
8. Finally, our system does not allow us to export these files. They are only viewable with Ballot Now, proprietary software, in our database.
To repeat, this is a violation of Election Rule 45.5.2.1.7.
If need be, we are willing to negotiate ways that the county can meet its obligations by providing us access to the proprietary software so that we may inspect the records in Boulder County’s database.
9. With regard to your request for the cast vote records, again, the County’s system does not allow the export of these files.
To repeat, this is a violation of Election Rule 45.5.2.1.7.
If need be, we are willing to negotiate ways that the county can meet its obligations by providing us access to the proprietary software so that we may inspect the records in Boulder County’s database.
10. Cast vote records are not the same as results, and they cannot be printed out. They are the record of how Ballot Now tabulates each ballot.
In the first place, you should know that we have not requested a printout of the cast vote records. Our request is to inspect the actual cast vote records. Once we see these records, we will decide whether or not to request copies of the computer files containing them.
Also, for your information, you have been misinformed. The cast vote records are NOT a record of how BallotNow “tabulates” each ballot. The cast vote records are the record of how BallotNow “interprets” each vote on each ballot. The votes on the cast vote records are subsequently tabulated by a program referred to as TALLY.
11. The statement of vote is available, however.
We are not, at this time, seeking access to the statement of vote.
12. I am still working on the administrative logs that you requested and will get an answer to you as soon as possible. Could you please explain with specificity what it is you are asking for?
To expedite this response, please provide us with a list of the official titles and summary description of all files created and/or maintained by the HART voting system. We have found that when we do not ask for an exact file name, we are not able to make a request that staff understands.
Now that we have presented and directed you to the correct legal framework, we expect you to promptly arrange for us to inspect the materials we have requested.
Please let me know when we may review the materials.
Sincerely,
Al Kolwicz
Colorado Voter Group
CC:
Hillary Hall, Boulder County Clerk & Recorder
Bernie Buescher, Colorado Secretary of State
Judd Choate, Director, Colorado Division of Elections
Harvie Branscomb, Trustee, Colorado Voter Group
Friday, April 02, 2010
COMPLAINT: Urgent - ongoing violation of Open Meetings Laws
From: Al Kolwicz [mailto:AlKolwicz@qwest.net]
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 10:26 AM
To: 'attorney.general@state.co.us'
Cc: 'Newsroom Denver_Post'; 'coloradovoter@googlegroups.com'
Subject: COMPLAINT: Urgent - ongoing violation of Open Meetings Laws
Dear Attorney General Suthers,
There is a meeting of Colorado election officials underway today in Westminster. These same officials are interfering with the Public’s right to observe. Your immediate intervention is requested.
These officials are operating behind a shield of the Colorado County Clerks Association.
However, it is our understanding that they are discussing topics that lead to decisions regarding election law (see email thread below).
We believe that these officials are violating the spirit and letter of the Colorado open meetings laws.
Will you please intervene in behalf of the people of Colorado?
Thank you for your immediate attention.
Al
Al Kolwicz
Colorado Voter Group
303-494-1540
mailto:AlKolwicz@qwest.net
http://www.coloradovotergroup.org/
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 10:26 AM
To: 'attorney.general@state.co.us'
Cc: 'Newsroom Denver_Post'; 'coloradovoter@googlegroups.com'
Subject: COMPLAINT: Urgent - ongoing violation of Open Meetings Laws
Dear Attorney General Suthers,
There is a meeting of Colorado election officials underway today in Westminster. These same officials are interfering with the Public’s right to observe. Your immediate intervention is requested.
These officials are operating behind a shield of the Colorado County Clerks Association.
However, it is our understanding that they are discussing topics that lead to decisions regarding election law (see email thread below).
We believe that these officials are violating the spirit and letter of the Colorado open meetings laws.
Will you please intervene in behalf of the people of Colorado?
Thank you for your immediate attention.
Al
Al Kolwicz
Colorado Voter Group
303-494-1540
mailto:AlKolwicz@qwest.net
http://www.coloradovotergroup.org/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)