RE: CO SoS to reject Provisional Ballots?

["Robert Mcgrath" <mcgrath_mcnally@xxxxxxx>]

Today is the day to show up at the hearing about these rules to protest 
them.  The meeting is from 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. in the main conference room 
at the Secretary of State's office at 1560 Broadway.

I still think the language she is adding to the rules that allows her to be 
both judge and jury over determining whether a HAVA complaint is "frivolous 
or vexacious" introduces a climate of intimidation against anyone thinking 
of filing such a claim.  I also think her rule regarding not allowing 
provisional ballots to count for those voting in the wrong precinct except 
in the Presidential race as arbitrarily narrow.

Is anyone able to attend this meeting and lodge such comments?  Is anyone 
able to research the Federal HAVA Act to determine whether any appeals 
process exists to go over Donetta's decisions in such instances?
I have been told by an employee at the Secretary of State's office that the 
need to use a special envelope for filing such HAVA complaints applies only 
to county election officials and not to ordinary citizens.

Bob McGrath, Director
CFVI


There is a story about this in today's NY Times as well:

 MAKING VOTES COUNT
Playing With the Election Rules

Published: September 30, 2004


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ne of the lessons of the election mess in Florida in 2000 was that a 
secretary of state can deprive a large number of people of the right to vote 
by small manipulations of the rules. This year in Ohio and Colorado, two key 
battlegrounds, the secretaries of state have been interpreting the rules in 
ways that could prevent thousands of eligible Americans from voting. In both 
states, the courts should step in.

Just weeks before the deadline to register, Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's 
secretary of state, instructed the state's county boards of election to 
reject registrations on paper of less than 80-pound stock - the sort used 
for paperback-book covers and postcards, compared with the 20-to-24-pound 
stock in everyday use. He said he was concerned about forms' being mailed 
without envelopes and mangled by postal equipment. But the directive applied 
to all registration forms, even those sent in an envelope or delivered by 
hand. Mr. Blackwell, a Republican, acted in the midst of an unprecedented 
state voter registration drive, which is signing up far more Democrats than 
Republicans.

Under intense criticism, Mr. Blackwell has backed off. Earlier this week, 
his office said it would not be the "paper police," but said it was not 
withdrawing the directive. Yesterday, it said he had advised county boards 
to accept registrations on any paper. But the advisory is worded so 
inartfully that it could create confusion. And it is unclear how many 
registrations may have already been rejected. The burden is now on Mr. 
Blackwell to ensure that counties have not rejected valid registrations.

Mr. Blackwell's second directive tells local elections officials to follow a 
bad policy Ohio adopted on provisional ballots. This is the first 
presidential election in which every voter whose eligibility is in doubt has 
the right to cast a ballot and to have the vote's validity verified later. 
But Ohio and some other states have tried to gut this guarantee by not 
counting provisional ballots cast in the wrong polling places. There is no 
reason to do that.

This rule could void many votes. There will be a flood of first-time voters 
this year, who may not know where to vote. And some polling places have been 
changed by redistricting. Mr. Blackwell says poll workers should help voters 
call an elections hot line to find out where to go. But these hot lines are 
often busy on Election Day. Poor people and members of minorities, who move 
more often than most voters, are likely to be most affected. Ohio Democrats, 
who expect to do well among these groups, are fighting the rule in court.

In Colorado, Secretary of State Donetta Davidson, also a Republican, has 
issued a bizarre ruling of her own on this issue. She will allow provisional 
ballots cast at the wrong polling places to count for only the presidential 
race. The Senate race in Colorado, among the closest in the nation, could 
determine control of the Senate, and there is no reason all valid 
provisional ballots should not count in this race or for statewide ballot 
propositions. Colorado Common Cause is challenging Ms. Davidson's rule, but 
she should not need a court to tell her to count the votes.

Democrats say these rulings are all attempts to disqualify thousands of 
Democratic votes. Whatever the motivation, they threaten to disenfranchise 
voters. They have no place in our democracy.


Making Votes Count: Editorials in this series remain online at 
nytimes.com/makingvotescount.




> From: "Joe Pezzillo" <jpezzillo@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Cvv-Discuss@Coloradovoter. Net" <cvv-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: CO SoS to reject Provisional Ballots?
> Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 09:17:52 -0600
>
>
> Anybody know more about this?
>
> Here are bunch of folks who seem even more unhappy with Donetta Davidson 
> than some of us are:
>
> http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/29/124230/190