Rep.
Scott legislation seeks to end such sales
By MICHAEL A. de YOANNA
Colorado Daily
Staff Writer
The digital images of 75,944 signatures that belong to registered Boulder County voters have been purchased by voter-rights activist Al Kolwicz.
Swindlers could use such records to defraud the county’s citizens, Kolwicz warned Thursday.
“The potential here is unbelievable,” Kolwicz said.
The Boulder County clerk and recorder charged Kolwicz $50 for the electronic tapes containing the signatures after he requested them. The signatures are part of the election record and associated with mail-in ballots from the 2001 election.
The electronic record contains the signatures of those who voted in various county and municipal races such as the one for Boulder’s City Council.
Boulder County Clerk Charlotte Houston said she regretted the sale of the signatures, but could do nothing to prevent it.
“We did not like the idea of someone purchasing the tape that we keep signatures on,” Houston said. “It was done because we could not find a legal option not to do it.”
A county attorney reviewed Kolwicz’s request prior to the decision, she added.
The electronic tape provides criminals with an important element to conduct financial fraud and identity theft, according to Kolwicz.
A criminal could combine the signatures with the voter registration information, which the county also offers for sale, Kolwicz said. Voter registration information includes names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, party affiliations and other information.
“All I would have to do is go to your house and go through the trash and obtain some of your bank statements to create a false check with your signature using a printer and software,” Kolwicz said. “Not that I would do it.”
Kolwicz is a member of Citizens for Accurate Mail Ballot Election Results . Analyzing data files, his group in February alleged that county election officials counted more than 500 ineligible votes in the 2001 election.
Kolwicz requested the electronic tape with the signatures to add to his research, he said.
Rep. Glenn Scott, a Broomfield Republican, has introduced House Bill 1458. It would prevent any local or state government entity from selling signatures associated with elections.
Scott’s bill doesn’t go far enough for Kolwicz.
“It doesn’t stop the government from collecting the signatures,” he said, adding that he supports the bill.
Houston, who also supports Scott’s bill, said that if her office stopped collecting signatures there would be practically no way to verify votes during mail-ballot elections.
“It would open the door to potential problems,” Houston said. “You’ve got to have some kind of a check.”
Diebold Inc., the vendor that provided software and machinery for the 2001 election, also has a copy of the electronic tape containing the signatures.
This story ©2002 New Colorado Daily Inc.