From:
Al Kolwicz
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 1:31 PM
To: Holly Lowder
Cc: Gigi Dennis
Subject: Welcome to new Colorado Elections Director.
Dear Ms. Lowder;
Welcome to your new
position as Colorado’s Election Director. We look forward to working with
you to bring to Colorado transparent elections using anonymous ballots that
are verifiably secure and accurate.
To ensure that they do not
get lost in the transition, I would like you to know that the following high
priority items are outstanding:
-
On April 7th
we filed a HAVA complaint against the wrongful certification of the HART
eSlate. We understand that a decision can be dragged out until July 10th,
but we plead with you to expedite a decision. We ask that you make a
series of sequential decisions, following the flow chart that we
provided on May 24-25th. There is no reason to delay determination of
whether or not a blind voter can read the paper printed by the V-VPAT.
We have asked for specific remedies, and offered to assist in the
identification of alternatives. Every day that passes without a
decision increases the potential burden on voters and election
officials.
-
On May 9th
we challenged Arapahoe County’s plan to mail unsolicited absentee ballot
applications and requested that the Secretary of State stop this
non-legal practice. The lack of a reply is stealing our opportunity to
protect voter’s rights.
-
On May 18th
we reported a complaint against Boulder County for hiding vital election
information from the public. We have not gotten a response to our
request for SOS intervention in this year long problem. Boulder County
may be planning to prohibit voters from voting anonymously in the
upcoming Primary and General Elections. Note that this is a completely
separate issue from the HAVA complaint. The answers to our two
questions are facts that do not require research. I hope that you will
intervene immediately, and get or provide written answers to our
questions. The lack of a reply is stealing our opportunity to protect
voter’s rights
-
On May 24th
during the Public Hearing on the HAVA complaint, many items were
identified as missing. We have a right to this information, including
documentation supporting John Gardner’s assertion that the EAC requires
federal certification for the Vote-PAD. The lack of a reply is stealing
our opportunity to protect voter’s rights.
Additionally, on December
5, 2005 we wrote to Secretary of State Dennis. I hope that you will read
our letter and take us up on our offer to meet and discuss each of the items
in the letter. We registered strong objection to (a) the use of non-secret
ballots, (b) non-existent accountability and transparency, (c) harmful
election rules, (d) incoherent election system, (e) inadequate voting
equipment RFP, and (f) untrustworthy voter registration system. I sincerely
hope that you will accept our offer to discuss these problems with you.
If you need copies of any
of these materials, please let me know. They should be in your files, and
are also available on our website and BLOG.
Best wishes in your
challenging new assignment.
Al Kolwicz
CAMBER – Citizens for
Accurate Mail Ballot Election Results
2867 Tincup Circle
Boulder, CO 80305
303-494-1540
AlKolwicz@qwest.net
www.users.qwest.net/~alkolwicz
www.coloradovoter.blogspot.com
CAMBER is a dedicated group of volunteers who
are working to ensure that every voter gets to vote once, every vote is
counted once, and that every ballot is secure and anonymous.
