DATE: 05 AUGUST 2014
FROM: Mary Eberle
      Boulder, Member of the Boulder County Canvass Board
  TO: Paul Geissler

I have a great deal of respect for my Democratic colleague on the Boulder
County Canvass Board, Paul Geissler.  He has brought a professional background
in statistics to the Canvass Board, and I believe that all the members value
his opinions on that subject quite highly. I have seen him deferred to over and
over again.

However, as with everyone, his ability to judge motivations is impaired. He
says that my Daily Camera Guest Opinion of Sunday, July 27 (updated to correct
a printing error on July 28;
http://www.dailycamera.com/guest-opinions/ci_26217242/whats-up-canvass-board)
is a partisan attempt to erode public confidence in our elections, thereby
suppressing voter turnout.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I support elections with integrity,
defined as all eligible voters get to vote, no ineligible voters get to vote
(and thus cancel out votes of eligible voters), all cast ballots are anonymous
so cannot be traced back to the electors who voted them (which can otherwise
lead to voter intimidation and vote buying), and all ballots are accurately
counted and the results accurately reported.

Also, there is not a partisan bone in my body. Although often unaffiliated, I
have joined almost every political party in Colorado (Republican, Democratic,
Libertarian, and now American Constitution) at one time or another, and if it
suits my purpose, I would switch parties again. This behavior is common because
it is often expedient to be able to vote in a specific party's primary. I also
have switched to serve as a watcher in a primary, and now I am affiliated with
the ACN Party in order to serve as a canvass board member. That's just the way
Colorado politics is structured. If one wants to be part of it as a voter or as
an election-integrity advocate, being nimble when it comes to party affiliation
is a plus.

Some of Paul's points are right on. He is quite correct when he says that "The
security of ballots relies on bipartisan teams." However, the political parties
have largely abdicated their role in soliciting their members to serve as
election judges during the long mail-ballot elections. The Clerk seems not to
advertise broadly for election judges. Thus many election workers are county
staff (who are then appointed as election judges). The result is that
government employees are running the elections and telling the rest of us the
result of our voting. Elections are supposed to belong to the citizens, not to
the government. The current situation is too much of a closed loop. One might
ask where we have seen this type of thing before.

The Clerk has passively if not actively supported progressively minimizing the
role of watchers, who are appointed by parties. Watchers have statutory roles
of (among other things) witnessing and verifying all parts of the election and
assisting in correcting discrepancies. The effort to cut watchers out of these
statutory roles or at least make them nearly impossible to fulfill is
continuing full speed ahead. See the statute that lists watcher rights at
Colorado Revised Statutes, 1-7-108(3). The Secretary of State, perhaps being
helped along by the Colorado County Clerks Association, is infringing on
watcher rights by issuing new, more restrictive rules. You can protest this
illegal reduction in watcher rights before August 14 (or possibly for about a
week after that; see Rule 8 in
http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/rule_making/files/2014/20140715ElectionsNoticeRulemaking.pdf)
by posting your ideas at SoS.Rulemaking@SOS.STATE.CO.US.

The rights you save may be your own.

Transparency in elections only happens with sunshine on the processes. Without
transparency, there cannot be verifiability.

If readers are concerned about the lack of oversight of Boulder County's
election process, they are correct, in my opinion. I hope they will choose to
be watchers this fall and in the future. Opportunities for watching begin even
before the ballots are mailed out. If you don't know what to watch for, ask
questions of those who have been watchers in the past. Ask me--my phone number
is listed. Having lots of watchers who demand "up close and personal" access,
as is their legal right, makes for greater election integrity. Election
integrity is the measure of a good election, not how fast its processes run or
even if "your candidate" won.

If you attend the Clerk's fall open house, keep an open mind and ask yourself
if you wanted to steal an election, where are the security gaps that would
allow you to do it? I bet you will spot some and/or imagine others.

EOF