1. Colorado Elections for Republican Senate Study Committee
(RSSC) By Jen Raiffie [email protected]
2. Adams County GOP Vice Chair 720.987.7620 [email protected]
2010 PRI AdCo Canvass Board 2010 GEN VSPC Judge 2013 PRIM Media
Watcher - Boulder 2013 Candidate (post primary) 2014 Muni Media
Watcher West Metro & Castle Rock 2014 GEN Poll & Media
Watcher Jen Raiffie
3. Whose Election Is It? Clerks do not own elections Rules
& Statues guide Clerks administration of elections Citizen
Oversight = Judges, Watchers, & Canvass Board
4. Lack of Enforcement CO has some really good election laws
Meaningless if not enforced No mandatory penalties for violations
These must be significant Good, Bad, & Ugly Need new laws Need
modify existing laws 1303 and 1164 are problems Merge Issue -
Duplicates
5. Main Problem SOS complaint process is ineffective Dual Role
of SOS is problematic Support Clerks Legal Enforcement Cant enforce
and support simultaneously Govt. tends to rule in favor of govt.
control When the SOS rules on a complaint it is often in conflict
with existing law or rules. The average citizen does not have $50k
to mount a legal challenge.
6. Proposed Remedies
7. Citizen Election Oversight Committee (CEOC) Pilot Project
through May 2017 Goal = make recommendations Nonpartisan w/
subpoena power Members: AG Advisor (no vote) Admin Law Judge
Advisor (no vote) Leg appoints 1 from each Chamber (vote) 3 Subject
Matter Experts (vote) Website transparency portal Citizens can file
complaints online Meet regularly & travel throughout state
8. Election Court One per judicial district Free for citizen
initiated complaints nominal admin court fees fees for frivolous
use Appoint one district court judge to hear citizen complaints
during election season Must first go through (CEOC) CEOC then
refers ALL cases (screened) to election court with
recommendations
9. Transparency Web Portal Pass legislation requiring SOS /
clerks to post public election data (exportable via (csv, txt, pdf)
Public Voter Roll & Poll Book Watcher / Judge Reports Ballot
Box pickup schedule Daily Challenge and Cure Lists Daily count
lists Mail, In Person, On Demand, Emergency, Provisional, UOCAVA
Old & New Addresses of Same Day Registrants Undeliverable
Ballots & Voter Confirm Cards Canvass Board Reports & Data
Status issues to be investigated by DA
10. Oversight Update canvass requirements Defend watcher and
canvass board roles CORA conflicts -C.R.S 1-2-227(l) & 42
USC1973gg-6(i)(1) Canvass Boards must be subject to open meeting
laws Mandate election transparency web portals Create SOS citizen
oversight Enforce existing law w/ significant penalties for
violations
11. Eligibility Value My Vote Photo ID is not about voter
access 24 Things Requiring ID to buy Castle Rock Mail Ballots &
Dirty Tricks Video Brandon Morse Registers to Vote Video Kelly
Maher Library Card OKeefe on Holders Ballot video Require Proof of
Legal Presence Voter Pre-registration 18 year old got ballot w/o
registering
12. Intent to move Why? Same Day Voter Registration Publish
previous and new address for accountability Mandated Voter Reg on
Campus Require them to unregister at home Westminster City Council
tried to mandate the same for all apartment leases Eligibility
Value My Vote
13. Key Observations
14. Secret Ballot There is no respect or regard for my sacred
right to a secret ballot Most egregious observations West Metro
(missing /altered video) Castle Rock Muni (home rule) Adams County
(scanning traceable ballots) Nobody, especially Govt., has the
right to see or track how any individual votes, regardless of any
oath taken Rep SOS, in his motion to dismiss the AdCo lawsuit last
Friday, chose to NOT defend secret ballots and sided with the clerk
who violated his own rules when she failed to notify him (and us)
of traceable ballots
15. Multiple & Duplicate Ballots Duplicate >1 ballot
distributed per voter One unique voter ID per voter Adams Printing
Error Multiple >1 registration instance per voter Multiple voter
IDs per voter Merge issue resulting from HB1303
16. Merge Issue HB-1303 turned all 750,000 once inactive voters
to active w/o merge so they could all get a ballot People received
multiple ballots Inherent problem known for over a year No
mitigation / safeguards enacted Remedy: Match 3-4 fields to filter
out potential problems (Last, First, Address, DOB, Sex, Party)
17. Signature Verification Only stopgap to ballot harvesting
Ballot Harvesting = conscious effort of workers to collect ballots
at the door (or trashcans) Fractivist posing as election officials
Ensures person who is listed on the ballot is the one who voted the
ballot Watchers unable to effectively challenge Challenges require
cure Cures not mailed Daily cure list reports not delivered to
watchers Many ballots not cured votes not counted
18. Ballot Duplication The Big Lie Write In blamed for count
delay Made up excuse to appease media & public 11,000+ ballots
(8.5%) manually reproduced Watchers denied access to duplication
room
19. Data Access Legislation to mandate clerks deliver specifics
data to watchers w/in specified timeline. Common theme across the
board Watchers & Canvass Board denied Do Watchers need to CORA
or pay fees? CORA conflicts w/ CRS 1-2-227(1) & 42 USC
1973gg-6(i)(1).
20. Judges Legislate a judges bill of rights Clerks must use
appointment lists from parties Chairs must approve & place
their own judges Eliminate clerks honor system to pair judges Allow
judges and watchers to communicate Establish removal process for
stakeholders Background check on AdCo Lead Judge found embezzlement
of tax $$
21. Watcher Access Need a Watcher Bill of Rights Eliminate
Clerks war on watchers Clerk made up new 6 foot rule Watchers
denied data Watchers charged for data Watchers intimidated Watcher
removal by clerk unjustified Rope barrier in AdCo ballot
duplication GOP Attorneys did not defend watcher rights GOP
Attorneys complied and sat behind the rope all day
22. Canvass Board Legislation to mandate clerks deliver
specifics data to Canvass Board w/in specified timeline and require
defects to be corrected Public Board w/o public access Purpose =
audit election Citizen owned, Clerk Controlled Requires Precinct
level reconciliation Clerks are denying data and time necessary to
reconcile Clerks are ignoring defect reports Clerks ignore defect
reports Define defect Clerks & SOS ignore non-certification
Boulder sent cert papers to SOS w/o cert or board majority Add UAF
vote to the Board Remove vote from Clerk Does the IRS allow you a
vote on your own audit?
23. Media Watcher Access Make Rules more specific (more teeth)
in defining Media Watcher rights and access Canvass board needs to
be be defined as a public board in statute and be inclusive under
Sunshine
24. Recount AdCo GOP was denied sig verification during recount
Clerk Ortiz (Pueblo) was allowed to price opponent out of a Recall
(SOS estimated $7-8k) Ortiz charged $16k Define formula and/or cap
fees Require identical access in recounts
25. Recall Required Signatures = 25% of votes cast in last
election for the official being recalled EXCEPT School Board
Recalls only require 15,000 signatures (
