Voting goal: Avoid '08 chaos

Legislature poised to sort out system for state elections

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 4, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.
Updated January 4, 2008 at 9:50 a.m.

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Photo by Photos By Javier Manzano / The Rocky

O'Malley gives her views on the future of elections in Colorado during the hearing Thursday in the Old Supreme Court chambers at the Statehouse. O'Malley said she doesn't support mail-only elections because many voters aren't comfortable with mail voting and want to vote in precincts.

"I believe precinct-counted paper ballots is the gold standard," Myriah Conroy said during a hearing Thursday. Conroy was the lead plaintiff in a 2006 lawsuit that led to the court-ordered certification of electronic voting machines.

Denver Clerk Stephanie O'Malley listens to Harvie Branscomb of the Eagle County Canvas Board during a hearing Thursday on the future of Colorado's election process.

Al Kolwicz, executive director of Citizens for Accurate Mail Ballot Election Results, was the first to take the podium Thursday. He raised concerns about a lack of accountability and controls in electronic voting.

Lawmakers expect the contentious debate over election systems to dominate the opening of the legislature next week.

The issue is especially urgent because of the Dec. 17 announcement by Secretary of State Mike Coffman that thousands of voting machines and scanners used across the state cannot be used because of security and accuracy flaws.

Coffman's decision has thrown election planning into disarray. With statewide primaries only eight months away, election officials don't know what machines they can use.

"We cannot have chaos in the '08 election," said Rep. Rosemary Marshall, D-Denver. "Where we stand right now, there's a great potential for chaos."

Marshall was part of a panel of lawmakers who listened Thursday to dozens of voting activists and county clerks describe what kind of election process they want.

Lawmakers, activists and election officials all said they have the same goal: accurate, secure and transparent elections.

But they differ sharply on the solution.

Nationwide concern

More than 30 voting activists, mostly from Boulder and Denver, said the only reliable system that can be audited is paper voting at precincts with hand counts. They said electronic voting equipment used across the state is untrustworthy, and they attacked mail-only voting as inaccurate and too secretive a process.

"I believe precinct-counted paper ballots is the gold standard," said Myriah Conroy, the lead plaintiff in a 2006 lawsuit against former Secretary of State Gigi Dennis that led to Coffman's court-ordered certification process. "It's the way to go."

Conroy and the other people who testified Thursday are part of a sizable movement against electronic voting equipment that has been gaining steam nationwide in the past several years. Recent studies, including ones done in California and Ohio, have confirmed claims by voting activists that the machines can't be trusted. Elected officials in those states and others, including Florida, have recently decided to severely restrict the use of electronic voting equipment and increase the use of paper ballots.

In Colorado, many county clerks have strongly defended their electronic voting systems. They insist the equipment is accurate and passed numerous tests and audits before and after elections.

County officials disagree

Clerks are working with equipment manufacturers to file appeals to Coffman's certification decisions based on the claim that the tests were faulty. The appeals are expected to be filed in the next week and quickly processed by Coffman's office.

If they can't use electronic equipment, many clerks said a mail-only election is the best way to conduct elections without spending millions on more machines.

"A paper ballot delivered by mail will ensure the greatest number of Coloradans who wish to participate in 2008 elections will be able to do so," said Deb Green, president of the Colorado County Clerks Association.

Not all clerks agree.

Denver Clerk Stephanie O'Malley said she doesn't support mail-only elections because many voters, especially those in low-income and minority communities, aren't comfortable with mail voting and want to vote in precincts.

She said more than 80 percent of votes were cast in precincts in 2003, 2004 and 2006.

O'Malley also said hand-counting is a problem because election officials have trouble finding election judges and volunteers and would need scores to do hand-counting.

Conejos County Clerk Lawrence Gallegos said voters in rural counties like his, with fewer than 5,000 registered voters, like to go to the polls on election day.

"I don't think we need to do a one-size-fits-all for the whole state."

Hybrid system backed

Lawmakers expressed doubts about both systems proposed by clerks and voting activists.

Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, said hand-counting ballots cast at precincts isn't a viable option. He also said that the mail-only approach doesn't work and that a hybrid system with mail and precinct voting appears to be the best option.

Two other panel members, Marshall and Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, also said they supported a combined system.

Weissmann said the election issue will be contentious and "will be an early session priority." The General Assembly convenes Wednesday.

Ken Gordon, panel co-chairman and Senate majority leader, said the arguments by the voting activists are "persuasive."

But paper voting in precincts may not work because of limited resources. And combining that with mail voting could cause trouble on election day.

"I understand the urge to try to accommodate everybody, but if you put that much stress on the clerks to run two different elections without giving them more resources, I think you're increasing the likelihood that there will be failures," the Denver Democrat said.

Gordon said he wants to use less electronic equipment and more paper. He said that he'll introduce legislation on the issue but that he hasn't decided exactly what his system will look like.

Balmer said he wants lawmakers to pass legislation quickly.

"We can't be making these decisions in June or July."

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said his preference is for mail-only balloting as a permanent solution. But whatever system the legislature chooses, Romanoff said, he wants unanimous agreement.

"If you don't do this right, nothing else matters."

kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2361. Staff writer Chris Barge contributed to this report.

Voting systems under scrutiny

On Dec. 17, Secretary of State Mike Coffman announced that thousands of electronic voting and tallying machines used across the state were unfit for use in 2008. Equipment purchased before May 28, 2004, was not subject to the review and are approved for use next year. Here's a breakdown on systems in Colorado:

7,619 voting machines and scanners were used in Colorado in 2006.

5,441 of those machines used in 2006 (71%) were tested by Coffman in his recent review.

59 counties had their electronic voting machines - called direct recording equipment or DRE - certified by the survey. (47 counties use Hart InterCivic and 12 use Premier)

16 counties had their optical scanners for counting paper ballots certified (four counties use Sequoia - Denver, Arapahoe, Pueblo and Elbert - and 12 counties that use Premier).

6 counties' DREs were decertified by Coffman (Denver, Arapahoe, Pueblo, Elbert, Jefferson and Mesa).

49 counties' optical scanners were decertified (all 47 Hart counties and Jefferson and Mesa (Election Systems & Software).

* What's wrong with ES&S DREs?

Found vulnerable to security attack; failed to provide auditable data to detect security violations

* What's wrong with ES&S optical scanners?

They couldn't complete testing threshold of 10,000 ballots due to vendor programming errors so testers couldn't determine if device works correctly.

* What's wrong with Hart InterCivic scanners? They failed to count ballots correctly.

* What's wrong with Sequoia DREs?

They failed to operate in a secure state requiring passwords, failed to provide auditable data to detect security violations, and failed to ensure all electronic records have corresponding V-VPAT records.

• January 4, 2008

  9:13 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  dilligaf writes:

  What concerns me more than the machines is what will be done to stop Republicans trying to keep Minorities from being able to vote like they did in the 2000 & 2004 elections. It won the election for Bush both times.

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