[EL] A dissenting opinion on the Colorado absentee controversy

[Bev Harris]

A controversy erupted in two Colorado counties this past week (Pueblo and Denver
counties) regarding their desire to mail absentee ballots automatically to
voters who are inactive, who had not requested a ballot, nor responded to a
mailing asking them if they wanted one.

The counties wanted to mail ballots to the inactive voters, the Colorado
secretary of state tried to block the mailings; courts ruled to allow the
mailings to go out.

The media hype was framed in terms of prohibiting inactive military voters from
casting ballots, but the real controversy was generic -- the counties wanted to
send unrequested ballots to everyone on an opt-in list, almost all of the
voters actually not military, and not even overseas or out of state.

So let's be clear: the prime risk for wholesale election fraud with absentee
voting systems is insiders exploiting known inactives, casting votes in their
names.

For this reason, no-fault absentee is high risk, but opt-in or permanent or
forced absentee is reckless.

What I would look for as a symptom in a location about to commit insider
absentee fraud is aggressive balloting to (or in the name of) voters known to
be inactive. Contrary to the prefab talking point that it's necessary to push
unasked-for ballots out to known inactive voters on a wholesale basis to make
it "easier to vote", this is actually helping insiders commit identity theft to
cast votes FOR those they know are unlikely to vote for themselves. That
enables massive disenfranchisement for valid voters who cast honest ballots.

There is a mitigation for this, but the Colorado Clerks Association is doing its
best to block that, too. Recently they announced that no open records requests
would be honored around election time.

First: permanent absentee systems are reckless and fraud-inviting.

Second: Using permanent absentee systems to push ballots out to inactive voters
exacerbates the fraud potential

Third: The only real mitigation is public examination of the list of who can
vote and who did vote. By blocking public access to those records, Colorado
Clerks in Pueblo and Denver counties are taking sole power over the election,
with no ability for the public to see or authenticate the most essential
components.

IF the public has prompt access to the records, by obtaining the voter list
(which should be marked by active and inactive) and the participating voter
list (which should contain method of voting, such as at polls, absentee), it
might be possible to determine whether insiders or the real voter had cast the
vote.

This is what I recommend for Colorado citizens and political parties, LITIGATING
if necessary to obtain the necessary prompt access to crucial records.

Now, I realize that the Democratic political position favors permanent absentee
and pushing ballots out to inactives. But I think we have to question this: Why
are proponents not also demanding the necessary transparency measures needed to
mitigate fraud? Instead, not a peep of protest about the clerks position to
block all open records requests for election records (including voter lists and
who the ballots were sent to, and who chose to vote these inactive ballots).

I hope the public and political candidates will demand prompt access to these
records.

Bev Harris
Founder - Black Box Voting
http://www.blackboxvoting.org

* * * * *

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people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right
to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to
know. We insist on remaining informed so that we may retain control over the
instruments of government we have created.

Black Box Voting is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501c(3) elections watchdog group
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http://www.blackboxvoting.org/donate.html
Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
Renton WA 98057


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