The Colorado Attorney General’s office has issued an opinion (October 15th email below) that, if left unchallenged, would essentially shut down independent oversight of elections.
I encourage each of you to intensify your efforts to ensure that Colorado elections are independently verifiable by the public. If we fail, we are one step closer to widespread election fraud and error.
Remember that the Attorney General is the attorney for the Secretary of State – not the people’s Attorney General.
There are three sections below. Please take time to read thru them. Then share your ideas. We must act promptly.
1. October 15th email from Attorney General’s officeAl Kolwicz
2. My annotations to the AG’s email.
3. My notes regarding Colorado’s statutes and election rules
Colorado Voter Group
http://www.coloradovotergroup.org/
http://coloradovotergroup.blogspot.com/
October 15th email from Attorney General’s office
From: Judd Choate [mailto:Judd.Choate@SOS.STATE.CO.US]
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 9:11 AM
To: Marilyn R Marks
Cc: attorney.general@state.co.us; Harvie Branscomb; Al Kolwicz; joseph richey
Subject: RE: opinion on poll watching
Here is what Maurice Knaizer, the Deputy Attorney General, sent me last night regarding the six foot rule. If you would prefer that he put this on a letterhead, I’m sure that can be accomplished.
Poll Watchers have asked whether they may witness activities of election officials involving voting equipment, voting booths and the ballot boxes within six feet of such equipment, booths and boxes when a voter is not present. The Department of State has concluded that watchers may not be permitted within six feet of the equipment, booths and ballot boxes even when a voter is not present.
Section 1-5-503 provides:
"The voting equipment or voting booths and the ballot box shall be situated in the polling place so as to be in plain view of the election officials and watchers. No person other than the election officials and those admitted for the purpose of voting shall be permitted within the immediate voting area, which shall be considered as within six feet of the voting equipment or voting booths and the ballot box, except by authority of election judges or the designated election official, and then only when necessary to keep order and enforce the law"
This section does not contain any temporal limitations It covers activities, such as casting of ballots, counting of ballots and recounts, that occur during the election process. It also covers all locations where equipment or ballot boxes may be placed while ballots are being cast or counted. If a ballot box is moved from one location in a polling place to another, the six foot buffer would apply to the second location. Ballots themselves are also covered because the primary purpose of this section is to protect the integrity of the ballot and preserve the secrecy of the ballot. Allowing persons other than designated election officials or their agents to come closer to the equipment, booths or ballot boxes increases the likelihood that a watcher with malevolent intent could corrupt the election process. Any potential disadvantage to the watcher is mitigated by the requirement that the equipment, booths and ballot boxes must be "in plain view."
For these reasons, I concur with the Secretary's interpretation.
Maurice Knaizer
Kolwicz annotations to the AG’s email.
1. The statement of the issue is ill-formed, and will result in a fuzzy response. It is sort of a “straw-man”. It restricts the issue to one that might be answered by 1-5-503. We have actually asked for much more transparency, and never asked to see what is happening in the immediate area of the voting booth or see the content of non-anonymous ballots.
Poll Watchers have asked whether they may witness activities of election officials involving voting equipment, voting booths and the ballot boxes within six feet of such equipment, booths and boxes when a voter is not present. The Department of State has concluded that watchers may not be permitted within six feet of the equipment, booths and ballot boxes even when a voter is not present.2. The citation, by Knaizer, of 1-5-503 is faulty in that it refers only to the polling place, and not to all of the other election activities. Also, it is clear to me that the intent is to protect the privacy of the voter and the anonymity of the ballot. Once the ballot is cast it must be, by constitution and statute, anonymous.
Section 1-5-503 provides:3. Knaizer conveniently eliminates all of the other, many, statutes and election rules related to this topic. I have scraped many of these in the synopsis below.
"The voting equipment or voting booths and the ballot box shall be situated in the polling place so as to be in plain view of the election officials and watchers. No person other than the election officials and those admitted for the purpose of voting shall be permitted within the immediate voting area, which shall be considered as within six feet of the voting equipment or voting booths and the ballot box, except by authority of election judges or the designated election official, and then only when necessary to keep order and enforce the law"
4. Knaizer then goes on and creates, on his own initiative, an extensive expansion of the written law.
This section does not contain any temporal limitations It covers activities, such as casting of ballots, counting of ballots and recounts, that occur during the election process. It also covers all locations where equipment or ballot boxes may be placed while ballots are being cast or counted. If a ballot box is moved from one location in a polling place to another, the six foot buffer would apply to the second location. Ballots themselves are also covered because the primary purpose of this section is to protect the integrity of the ballot and preserve the secrecy of the ballot. Allowing persons other than designated election officials or their agents to come closer to the equipment, booths or ballot boxes increases the likelihood that a watcher with malevolent intent could corrupt the election process. Any potential disadvantage to the watcher is mitigated by the requirement that the equipment, booths and ballot boxes must be "in plain view."
It appears to me that Mr. Knaizer’s response is political rather than legal, and should be challenged immediately.
Kolwicz notes regarding Colorado’s statutes and election rules.
The reason that watchers need to get within 6 feet of computer screens, cast ballots, and various other election information is so that watchers, who are trying to accomplish their statutory rights, can actually “see” and “hear” what is going on. We have no interest in seeing the computer screens or the issued-but-uncast ballot seen by the elector as he marks, verifies, and casts an anonymous ballot.
I have clipped pertinent sections of our statutes and rules below. Any reasonable reading will conclude that watchers are expected to have access to election data including who is voting, how the votes on a ballot are interpreted, and how the votes on a ballot are counted.
The public depends on independent oversight (watchers) because watchers can discover errors that might otherwise get missed or covered up, and to prevent official misdeeds. It is not difficult to understand that there are often measures on the ballot that affect the jobs and pay of government officials. (Officials often have “a horse in the race”.) In Colorado counties, election officials can choose their own people for mail-in, early, and provisional ballot processing, and for all vote counting. In many cases these people are government employees. Sometimes key processes of the election are performed by sub-contractors, some of which may be offsite, or even out of state.
With the exception of voter privacy issues outlined above, watchers need both real-time access to the data in every election process, including anonymous cast ballots, and post election access to all election data computer files.
We trust the officials, but, since they are human, and to obtain certainty, we must verify.
Al
1-1-104. Definitions. (51) "Watcher" means an eligible elector other than a candidate on the ballot who has been selected by a political party chairperson on behalf of the political party, by a party candidate at a primary election, by an unaffiliated candidate at a general, congressional vacancy, or nonpartisan election, or by a person designated by either the opponents or the proponents in the case of a ballot issue or ballot question.
1-7-108. Requirements of watchers. (1) Watchers shall take an oath administered by one of the election judges that they are eligible electors, that their name has been submitted to the designated election official as a watcher for this election, and that they will not in any manner make known to anyone the result of counting votes until the polls have closed.
(2) Neither candidates nor members of their immediate families by blood or marriage to the second degree may be poll watchers for that candidate.
(3) Each watcher shall have the right to maintain a list of eligible electors who have voted, to witness and verify each step in the conduct of the election from prior to the opening of the polls through the completion of the count and announcement of the results, to challenge ineligible electors, and to assist in the correction of discrepancies.
1-7-307. Method of counting paper ballots. (4) All persons, except election judges and watchers, shall be excluded from the place where the ballot counting is being held until the count has been completed.
1-7-507. Electronic vote-counting - procedure. (1) All proceedings at the counting centers shall be under the direction of the designated election official and the representatives of the political parties, if a partisan election, or watchers, if a nonpartisan election. No persons, except those authorized for the purpose, shall touch any ballot, ballot card, "prom" or other electronic device, or return.
1-7.5-107.5. Counting mail ballots. The election officials at the mail ballot counting place may receive and prepare mail ballots delivered and turned over to them by the designated election official for tabulation. Counting of the mail ballots may begin fifteen days prior to the election and continue until counting is completed. The election official in charge of the mail ballot counting place shall take all precautions necessary to ensure the secrecy of the counting procedures, and no information concerning the count shall be released by the election officials or watchers until after 7 p.m. on election day.
1-8-109. Watchers at mail-in polling places. Any political party, candidate, or proponents or opponents of a ballot issue entitled to have watchers at polling places shall each have the right to maintain one watcher in the office of the designated election official and mail-in polling places during the period in which mail-in ballots may be applied for or received.
1-8-206. Watchers at early voters' polling places. Any political party, candidate, or proponents or opponents of a ballot issue entitled to have watchers at polling places shall each have the right to maintain one watcher at the early voters' polling place during the casting and counting of early voters' ballots.
1-8-208. Manner of early voting. (1) An eligible elector who receives an early voters' ballot may cast the ballot in the early voters' polling place, as provided in this part 2. Ballot boxes for early voting shall be locked and sealed each night with a numbered seal under the supervision of the election judges or watchers, and the keys shall remain in the possession of the designated election official until transferred to the supply judge for the mail-in and early voters' counting place for preparation for counting and tabulating pursuant to section 1-8-303. When a seal is broken, the designated election official and a person who shall not be of the same political party as the designated election official shall record the number of the seal and maintain the seal along with an explanation of the reasons for breaking the seal.
1-9-201. Right to vote may be challenged. (1) (a) A person's right to vote at a polling place or in an election may be challenged.
(b) If a person whose right to vote is challenged refuses to answer the questions asked or sign the challenge form in accordance with section 1-9-203 or take the oath pursuant to section 1-9-204, the person shall be offered a provisional ballot. If the person casts a provisional ballot, the election judge shall attach the challenge form to the provisional ballot envelope and indicate "Challenge" on the provisional ballot envelope.
(2) An election judge shall challenge any person intending to vote who the judge believes is not an eligible elector. In addition, challenges may be made by watchers or any eligible elector of the precinct.
(3) A challenge at a polling place shall be made in the presence of the person whose right to vote is challenged.
1-10-101. Canvass board for partisan elections - appointment, fees, oaths. (1) (a) At least fifteen days before any primary, general, congressional vacancy, or special legislative election, the county chairpersons of each of the two major political parties in each county shall certify to the county clerk and recorder, in the manner prescribed by such clerk and recorder, the appointment of one or more registered electors to serve as a member of the county canvass board. The appointees, together with the county clerk and recorder, constitute the county canvass board. Each minor political party whose candidate is on the ballot and each unaffiliated candidate whose name is on the ballot in such election may designate, in the manner prescribed by such clerk and recorder, one watcher to observe the work of the county canvass board.
1-10.5-102. Recounts for congressional, state, and district offices, state ballot questions, and state ballot issues. (1) If the secretary of state determines that a recount is required for the office of United States senator, representative in congress, any state office or district office of state concern, any state ballot question, or any state ballot issue certified for the ballot by the secretary of state, the secretary of state shall order a complete recount of all the votes cast for that office, state ballot question, or state ballot issue no later than the twenty-fifth day after the election.
(2) The secretary of state shall notify the county clerk and recorder of each county involved by registered mail and facsimile transmission of a public recount to be conducted in the county at a place prescribed by the secretary of state. The recount shall be completed no later than the thirtieth day after any election. The secretary of state shall promulgate and provide each county clerk and recorder with the necessary rules and regulations to conduct the recount in a fair, impartial, and uniform manner, including provisions for watchers during the recount. Any rule or regulation concerning the conduct of a recount shall take into account the type of voting system and equipment used by the county in which the recount is to be conducted.
1-13-702. Interfering with watcher. Any person who intentionally interferes with any watcher while he is discharging his duties set forth in section 1-7-108 (3) is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as provided in section 1-13-111.
1-13-712. Disclosing or identifying vote. (1) Except as provided in section 1-7-108, no voter shall show his ballot after it is prepared for voting to any person in such a way as to reveal its contents. No voter shall place any mark upon his ballot by means of which it can be identified as the one voted by him, and no other mark shall be placed on the ballot by any person to identify it after it has been prepared for voting.
(2) No person shall endeavor to induce any voter to show how he marked his ballot.
(3) No election official, watcher, or person shall reveal to any other person the name of any candidate for whom a voter has voted or communicate to another his opinion, belief, or impression as to how or for whom a voter has voted.
(4) Any person who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as provided in section 1-13-111.
1-13-718. Release of information concerning count. Any election official, watcher, or other person who releases information concerning the count of ballots cast at precinct polling places or of mail-in voters' ballots prior to 7 p.m. on the day of the election is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as provided in section 1-13-111.
ELECTION RULES
8.7 What Watchers May Observe. Duly appointed Watchers may observe polling place voting, early voting and the processing and counting of precinct, provisional, mail, and mail-in ballots. For mail ballot elections, or mail-in ballot processing, watchers may be present at each stage of the election including the receiving and bundling of the ballots received by the designated election official. Watchers may be present during provisional ballot processing but may not have access to confidential voter information.
8.8 Limitations of Watchers. Duly appointed Watchers may observe election judges but may not interrupt or disrupt the processing, verification and counting of any ballots or any other stage of the election. Watchers may track the names of electors who have cast ballots by utilizing their previously obtained lists, but may not write down any ballot numbers or any other identifying information about the electors. Watchers may not handle the poll books, official signature cards, ballots, mail ballot envelopes, mail-in ballot envelopes or provisional ballot envelopes, voting or counting machines or machine components. Watchers shall not interfere with the orderly process and conduct of any election, including ballot issuance, receiving of ballots, voting or counting of the ballots. Watchers may not be allowed to interact with election officials or election judges, except that each designated election official shall name at least one individual in each precinct polling place or election location to whom Watchers may direct questions or from whom watchers may seek requested information.
