Strategically placed over Aspen OpEd - "Make Computer Files Public"

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Here's a snapshot of the op ed page of an Aspen Colorado newspaper.

The editorial dept placed a cartoon above the op/ed by Aspen voters who are asking
to see the ballots from Aspen's IRV election conducted in May.
The activists want to do an independent audit of the ballots.
(The editorial dept seldom posts cartoons and this one really applies to Afghanistan,
so its placement is ironic)



Here's excerpts of the OpEd written by two well known e-voting activists:

Whose election is this anyway? OpEd.
by BY HARVIE BRANSCOMB AND AL KOLWICZ Friday, August 21, 2009

The citizens of Aspen are asking: Whose election is this anyway? Does it belong to the government — made up of the very officials who are candidates in each election? Or is it the people’s election? Apparently this question remains open in Aspen.

...You alone might be able to recognize your own ballot from the way you have voted, if you remember the many rankings on your ballot. The protection of the anonymity of the ballot is demanded by the Colorado Constitution as the city has pointed out. If the city has counted any ballots containing identifying marks in any election, it has violated the law. Should the voters be able to learn whether this has happened? The city says you are not allowed to find out- by law. The city says trust: but don’t verify.

...When an opportunity to contribute to best practices for conducting IRV elections and post-election audits presents itself wouldn’t the city naturally want to bend over backwards to participate? Aspen’s experience in the last IRV election could be highly instructive to the Secretary of State, his Best Practices and Vision Commission, and every municipality and county in Colorado, and especially communities across the nation considering IRV.

Citizens of Aspen will be proud to serve the rest of the state and nation by preserving and protecting the right of the public to review election process and results, including the ballots, and particularly the very novel and practical disk containing public ballot images.

...more at the link
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/columnist/136195