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Jeffco voters can opt for paper ballots

Decision means most in state can make that choice

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 20, 2008 at 11:19 a.m.
Updated May 21, 2008 at 12:03 a.m.

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Most Colorado voters will have the option of casting paper ballots this year as part of a national trend toward reducing use of electronic voting machines because of concerns about their reliability.

Tuesday, officials in Jefferson County, the largest active-voter county in the state, said they will offer paper ballots in addition to electronic machines for the Aug. 12 primary and Nov. 4 general elections.

Jeffco is the latest of several major counties to add paper ballots. Douglas and Adams decided this year also to offer paper ballots, and Denver will use a paper-based system. That leaves three large counties - Arapahoe, Mesa and Weld - that still plan to use all e-voting equipment this year. Most of the rest of the state will offer a blend of paper and electronic.

The move toward paper ballots was welcomed by activists who don't trust e-voting equipment.

"The shift to paper ballots is the first step to increasing the transparency and verifiability that we need in our election process," said Claudia Kuhns, executive director of the Public Integrity Project.

Jeffco was one of the earliest counties to move to all e-voting when new federal voting requirements were implemented in 2002.

Jeffco Clerk Pam Anderson said she is confident in her e-voting equipment. But she decided also to offer paper ballots because of the recent controversy over the machines.

"Many of our voters enjoy voting on our current touch-screen voting system, but some have expressed a desire to cast a paper ballot," she said. "I think this is the best way that we found to be able to address many of the logistical and confidence issues."

More than half of Jeffco's active voters - at least 140,000 - already have signed up to vote on paper ballots by mail.

Anderson made the decision to use paper ballots after having traveled to Indiana to watch its May 6 primary. That state uses the same ballot scanners Jeffco plans to use.

Jeffco will lease 300 polling place scanners from Election Systems & Software for $650,000, Anderson said. She said Jeffco didn't want to buy scanners because of the fast- changing environment with e-voting standards and newer technology that is emerging.

The controversy over e-voting erupted in Colorado in December, when Secretary of State Mike Coffman banned most e-voting and tallying machines because of security and accuracy flaws. He later rescinded those decisions.

This spring, lawmakers and Gov. Bill Ritter unsuccessfully floated a measure that would have called for voters statewide to cast paper ballots. Most county clerks fought the measure. But they acknowledged that public confidence in e-voting has been shaken.

kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2361

Voting systems

Here's how voters in counties with the highest number of active voters will cast ballots during the Aug. 12 primary and Nov. 4 general elections. Polling sites must have at least one electronic voting machine to comply with requirements for disabled voters.

* Jefferson (245,000 active voters): Paper ballots and electronic machines at combined neighborhood precincts

* El Paso (228,000): Paper ballots at neighborhood precincts

* Arapahoe (227,000): All-electronic machines at combined neighborhood precincts

* Denver (219,000): Paper ballots at combined neighborhood precincts

* Boulder (148,000): Paper ballots at neighborhood precincts

* Larimer (143,000): Paper ballots and electronic machines at any polling place

* Adams (128,000): Paper ballots and electronic machines at any polling place

* Douglas (115,000): Paper ballots and electronic machines at combined neighborhood precincts

* Weld (92,000): All-electronic machines at any polling place

* Pueblo (67,000): Paper ballots and electronic machines at combined neighborhood precincts