County

Wayne W. Williams Clerk & Recorder (719) 520-6202 waynewilliams@elpasoco.com

El Paso
Office of the Clerk and Recorder

Citizens Service Center Suite 2201 1675 West Garden of the Gods Road Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2007 Colorado Springs, CO 80901-2007 Web Site: http://car.elpasoco.com

May 17, 2012 The Honorable John Hickenlooper Governors Office 136 State Capitol Denver, CO 80203 (via fax and email) Re: Request the signing of HB12-1036 (CORA/Elections) Dear Governor Hickenlooper: I am writing to encourage you to sign HB 12-1036 (CORA/Elections). This is a very important piece of legislation that will protect our elections and help ensure transparency to the citizens of Colorado. My office took part in working to draft this bill because we believe in a uniform and transparent process for allowing members of the public to view voted ballots. We strongly feel this bill provides us the balance for protecting a voters constitutionally protected secret ballot and allowing members of the public to view those ballots. There are three key provisions to this bill that I would like to point out to you: 1. It outlines a public inspection process for voted ballots. This will allow for a uniform process that all counties will follow. Inspections before and after those dates will be made available with the following requirements: The election official is required to cover or redact any markings or messages on a ballot that could identify the voter. In order to protect anonymity, ballots for inspection may be presented in random order. The person seeking the inspection may indicate a specific candidate contest, ballot issue or ballot question for which the person seeks to inspect the ballots. The person making the CORA request will be charged actual costs of making the election records and ballots available under existing CORA statutes. 2. It provides a CORA exemption of access to the ballots 45 days prior to the election through the certification. This will shield voter anonymity and provide important chain-of-custody protection of the voted ballots through any recount process. All other existing laws will still apply including the reports available through SCORE, audit process, election judges, canvass boards, recounts, challenges, etc. 3. It protects Military and Overseas Voters ballots. Many of these ballots come to our office via fax and email and these ballots are easily traced back to the voter. While these voters do sign a waiver for the secret ballot, I believe that clerks have a duty to protect those ballots from public inspection. This law

Chief Deputy Suite 2201 Alissa Vander Veen 520-7322 alissavanderveen@elpasoco.com

Clerk to BOCC Suite 2201 Vicki Ratterree, Manager 520-6432 vickiratterree@elpasoco.com

Election Suite 2202 Liz Olson, Manager 520-6222 lizolson@elpasoco.com

Motor Vehicle Suite 1200 Tony Anderson, Manager 520-7302 tonyanderson@elpasoco.com

Recording Suite 1200 Sandy Hook, Manager 520-6208 sandyhook@elpasoco.com

allows clerks to protect/redact those ballots in order to protect the privacy of voters. Military members sacrifice their lives to provide us the freedom to cast a ballot and I believe that we should do everything to ensure they receive the same privacy as any other voter. This bill allows clerks the power to withhold or redact these ballots from a CORA request. No original ballot requested that may impact a voters right to privacy is subject to direct inspection; however, the information contained in the ballot may be reviewed in a manner that will convey the public information without disclosure of ballot privacy. For example, an original military ballot that was faxed to the Clerk would not be subject to direct review, but a duplicated version of the votes cast may be inspected without any potential to identify the voter. While this legislation is not perfect, that is the power of compromise - both sides coming to an agreement to find a balance that best serves both sides. Compromise is an important and intrinsic piece of our countrys founding. Compromise keeps one side from bullying the other into submission in order to get an extreme outcome. This is what we had when we began this process - opposing views that worked together to find common ground for the people of the State of Colorado. Neither side prevailed, but what resulted was a bipartisan piece of legislation. This legislation was supported by the Colorado County Clerks Association, the Colorado Secretary of State, Colorado Municipal League, Special Districts Association, Colorado Association of School Boards, Colorado Counties, Inc., and the Colorado Press Association. These are many organizations that would be considered stakeholders in Colorado elections that came together to draft and pass a piece of legislation that would benefit the people of Colorado. I encourage you to sign HB 1036 for the good of Colorados elections. Thank you for your time and attention on this matter. Very truly yours,

Wayne W. Williams El Paso County Clerk & Recorder