Colorado Voter Group's Al Kolwicz Writes Aspen Election Commission Re: Anonymous Ballots

Al Kolwicz , Colorado Voter Group , 2867 Tincup Circle,Boulder CO, 80305
http://www.coloradovotergroup.org/

May 4, 2009
Commissioner Ward Hauenstein, Aspen Independent Election Commissioner
Commissioner Bob Leatherman, Aspen Independent Election Commissioner
Dear Commissioners Hauenstein and Leatherman

I am writing in regard to tomorrow’s Election Commission meeting. Please permit me to first introduce myself. I have lived and worked in Colorado since 1966. For more than a decade, I have worked to improve Colorado’s election system. I am a Trustee and co-founder of Colorado Voter Group. I have served on multiple Boulder County Canvass Boards and voting equipment test boards. I have actively participated in Colorado’s equipment certification process, and contributed to the development of election rules, and have testified numerous times before state and local governmental bodies. I have testified in court as an expert witness on election system matters. I have closely monitored with much interest Aspen’s May 2009 election and its follow on activities. I have worked closely with Nick Koumoutseas of TrueBallot, the vendor whose system was used in the election. I have had a private demonstration of the TrueBallot system including a description of the database tables and macros, and the software used to capture, interpret and correct votes. I have also explored the software used to calculate the selection of the winners. In addition, I have analyzed the database and strings, as well as the first-pass vote interpretations published by Aspen. I have studied Title 31 and have in-depth knowledge of Title 1, the Colorado Election Rules, and Colorado Constitution Article VII Section 8.

My interest in the May 2009 election is due to the ranked choice methodology used for the election. The Colorado legislature has instructed the Secretary of State to prepare a report of Colorado IRV experience by February 2011. As of now, it appears that Aspen’s will be the only Colorado IRV election completed before the report deadline. I hope that by detailed analysis of this election we can make a significant contribution to the Secretary of State’s report to the legislature. We expect this report to significantly influence future legislation.

Clean government does not just happen. The public needs protection from potentially tyrannical governments. Therefore, protection must be independent of government. It must work to serve public, not government, interests. The Aspen Election Commission should strive to become such a protector. You have statutory authority, and your tools are transparency and trustworthy elections.

Transparency means that public information is public and affordable. Government has the power, but not the right, to withhold or destroy information that might undermine its power. The Commission can and should facilitate the public’s access to all non-private election-related information.

What’s being hidden, and why? (Letter to Editor by Al Kolwicz) Aspen Transparency Litigation

What’s being hidden, and why?

Does anybody know why the City of Aspen is fighting so desperately to prevent public review of the May 2009 election files?

Is there something within the computer files that if disclosed could embarrass City officials?  If so, City resources shouldn’t be used to protect these officials.

Are officials misusing the powers of government for political purposes?  Are they intending to crush anyone who opposes their objectives?

Let’s think about it.  The City has refused a second public viewing of scans of ballots.  Nowhere in Colorado’s Constitution or Open Records Act, or Colorado’s election law or Aspen municipal codes, are officials exempt from producing these files (not the ballots) in response to an Open Records request.  Yet Aspen has refused every such request.

Letter from the Colorado Secretary of State concerning ballot transparency

[The following is a letter from the Colorado Secretary of State concerning the use of serial numbers on ballots and ballot image accessibility to the public. The yellow annotation is by H. Branscomb to focus on the ballot image transparency issue.  The letter to the editor in the Aspen Daily News linked here is based on the following letter from the Secretary.  http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/letter-editor/138940 ]

The original pdf of the Secretary's letter is here: Buescher to Kolwicz