April 29th, 2005 ERC DRAFT Minutes

DRAFT

MINUTES OF MEETING OF APRIL 29, 2005 BOULDER COUNTY ELECTION REVIEW COMMITTEE

1. Call to Order, Roll Call

The meeting of the Boulder County Election Review Committee was held on APRIL 29, 2005, at 1:00 p.m. in a room of the Conference Center of the Raddison Hotel in Longmont. The meeting was called to order by Richard Lyons, Chairman, at 1:10 p.m.

The meeting was attended, at roll call, by the following Committee Members: Richard Lyons, Richard Harris, Michael Taylor, Jay Harbour, Tom Davidson, David Leeds and Linda Flack.

Paul Tiger arrived at 2:10. Ms. Hall was excused from the meeting. There was no representative of the office of Secretary of State.

2. Approval of minutes of previous meeting.

Minutes of the April 22 and April 23 meetings were corrected and approved by unanimous vote of the members present.

3. Public Comment

Mariah Conroy read a prepared statement which quoted, in chronological order, statements that were made to Boulder County Officials by Neil McClure, regarding Hart InterCivic description of functions of the Hart Ballot Now system.

4. Other pending business including discussion of format for final report and mechanics of preparation/drafting.

There were no items of pending business and no new decisions regarding format or drafting of the final report.

5. Board listing and prioritization of causes and other factors for delays, including recommendations.

Mr. Harris reported on calculations he did reviewing time for counting ballots. He stated that, in his observation of the counting of ballots for the City Council Election, he noted that speed was not a priority in the counting. It seemed more important to demonstrate, to observers, the functioning of the system rather than exploring the efficiency that could be expected in counting.

Mr. Harris suggested that, in the 2005 Governor election, the priority might be to race through counting as quickly as possible to determine more accurately the potential of the system in counting.

Mr. Taylor, in cooperation with Mr. Harris, did calculations of the time taken in the November 4 elections. He presented a pie chart he had created, showing the portion of delay time required for different delaying activities. It demonstrated that more than half of the time was spent on damaged ballots.

After further refinement, Mr. Harbor moved to approve the revised Overall Recommendation; the motion was seconded by Mr. Davidson and was passed with unanimous vote of members present.

(Please see attachment for approved document.)

Mr. Lyons pointed out changes he has made in the Executive Summary in presenting it to the Committee. Mr. Davidson moved and Mr. Taylor seconded a motion to approve the narrative and the recommendations in the Executive Summary generated by Mr. Lyons. The motion passed with a unanimous vote of members present. Upon his arrival, Mr. Tiger joined in the approval of the motion, with a change in recommendation, from the word lease to rent; the change was accepted by the committee.

(Please see attachment for approved documents)

The Committee reviewed revisions to the narrative of Planning, Staffing and Education with changes pointed out by Ms. Flack. Mr. Taylor moved and Mr. Leeds seconded a motion to approve the document as revised today. The motion passed unanimously.

Revisions in the Recommendations for Planning, Staffing and Education were pointed out by Ms. Flack. Mr. Harbour moved and Mr. Harris seconded a motion to accept the Recommendations for Planning, Staffing and Education as revised today. The motion passed unanimously.

Please see attachment for approved documents.

The Hart Election System Narrative section was presented for review by the Committee. Mr. Taylor pointed out additions he had made in the Hand Count portion of the document. On pages 11 and 12, were bullots listing advantages and disadvantages of hand counting. It was discussed whether or not that level of detail is necessary in the report.

Mr. Davidson moved and Mr. Leeds seconded a motion to delete the bullots on pages 11 and 12 of the Hart Election System draft narrative. The motion passed with 5 in favor and 3 opposed.

Mr. Harris presented a table he had prepared to make a proposed addition to a Table 1. Calculation of Counting Times Using Various Assumptions. Appearing in the draft presented last week. are two columns, showing Time for Scanning, first 55% of ballots that were scanned on election day , the other the time for all ballots counted on election day. Added are two columns showing estimated count time for approximately 50 % of ballots counted before election day. One column shows more likely estimates for future elections, the other conservative estimates for future elections. These calculations were done this week.

Mr. Taylor moved and Ms. Flack seconded a motion to include the first two columns in the report with explanation to describe actual time involved after a mock election that might be held. The motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Lyons asked for approval of a narrative written by Mr. Harris and modified by Mr. Taylor and amended by the Committee here today subject to rewriting and reediting Table 1. with explanation of columns 3 &4. Mr. Harris will circulate to Committee on or before Monday, May 2 for final e-mail approval of the Committee. If there are no objections before 24 hours it will be considered approved. In the event that there are objections to the document, the Chairman is authorized to edit for a final draft. This plan was approved unanimously.

The Committee considered the changes made in the section, External Factors Beyond the Control of the County Clerk by Mr. Tiger.

Mr. Harbour moved and Mr. Leeds seconded a motion to approve the narrative of External Factors Beyond the Control of the County Clerk as amended. The motion passed unanimously.

(Please see attachment for approved document.)

Reviewing Recommendations for the section on External Factors Beyond the Control of the County Clerk, Mr. Taylor moved and Ms. Flack seconded a motion to approve numbers 1 and 2, but to delete number 3. The motion passed with 6 in favor and 1 opposed.

(Please see attachment for approved document.)

Mr. Lyons announced that the draft sections as modified here today and the sections that were approved previously will be sent to the editor. When the final report is completed it will be sent to members of the Committee for review and approval. After the report is in final form members will meet for signing.

Mr. Harbour stated that he might be out of town at the time of the signing and he authorized the Chairman, Mr. Lyons to sign for him if necessary.

A copy of all sections of the draft report will be sent electronically to all Committee Members and the Recording Secretary.

6. Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m. on unanimous approval of a motion made by Mr. Taylor and seconded by Mr.Leeds.

______________________________

Recording Secretary

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