September 17, 2004
Ms. Donetta Davidson BY FAX: 303-869-4861
Secretary of State
1560 Broadway, Suite 200
Denver, CO 80202
REFS:
Our election complaint, dated August 27, 2004
Rejection of complaint, dated September 9, 2004
Our disapproval of the Boulder County Canvass, dated August 25, 2004
Our proposal on rules, materials and methodology, dated August 20, 2004
Dear Secretary Davidson:
We believe that Mr. Compton is incorrect in his letter of September 9, 2004.
- There was never a vacancy that permitted the Boulder County Clerk to make a vacancy appointment. In fact the Boulder County Republican Party explicitly “declined to approve the Canvass.”
- The Republican representative was not asked to participate in the canvass to “certify the abstract of votes cast.” In fact the Republican representative was legally appointed according to statute, and the duties are described below:
Duties of the canvass board. CRS 1-10-101.5.
The canvass board shall reconcile the ballots cast in an election to confirm that the number of ballots counted in that election does not exceed the number of ballots cast in that election.
The canvass board also shall certify the abstract of votes cast in any election.
. - The Republican representative did not “refuse to sign off” because the “canvass was not being conducted according to [his] demands.” In fact the Republican representative “declined to approve” the canvass because the data needed to perform the duty of the canvass board was not provided, and because data needed to certify the abstract of votes are missing.
- There is no basis under law that would authorize a county clerk to create a vacancy because a canvass board member, while performing CRS 1-10-101.5 duties, identifies problems with the election records and refuses to approve the canvass. In fact, the Boulder County Republican Party, the voters of Boulder County, and our system of representative government have been harmed by the action of the clerk.
- It is not true that “reconciling the number of ballots cast in an election ... may, by necessity, be done at a later date.” In fact there is no such provision in the law.
- It is true that the county executive committee refused to accede to the demands of the clerk to replace the official Republican representative. The executive committee concluded that the representative was properly performing his duty.
- It is not true that [in order to get the canvass approved] “the county clerk and recorder [had] no alternative but to appoint another person to the canvass board pursuant to C.R.S. 1-10-101(1)(b).” In fact it was and remains the duty of the county clerk to produce a verifiable count of the ballots counted and a verifiable count of the number of ballots cast, and to produce the records needed to verify that the votes reported in the abstract of votes were correctly counted.
This matter is by no means resolved. As you have read above, the basis for your conclusion is entirely false. We demand a thorough investigation of this matter, and prefer that a mutually agreed to third party conduct the investigation.
It is our understanding that the duty of the Secretary of State is to oversee elections in order to ensure election integrity. We believe that the Secretary of State does not have the legal authority to cover up egregious actions and wrongdoing by local county clerks.
It cannot be permitted for county clerks to arbitrarily “replace” a legally appointed canvass broad member because the canvass board member properly refuses to cover up missing election data and falsify a report. What has happened here is wrong, and those responsible must be removed from positions where they can do further harm to the people.
Respectfully,
AI Kolwicz
Designated Canvass Board Member
Boulder County Republican Party
cc:
David Leeds, Chair, Boulder County Republican Party
Ted Halaby, Chair, Colorado Republican Party
Scott Russell, Political Director, Colorado Republican Party
Robert J. Corry, Jr., Esq., Law firm of Corry and Fellows, LLP
