“I can’t guarantee that these problems can be solved. But I think we should take a shot.”
Secretary of State Mike Coffman, above left, with former State Treasurer Mark Hillman
State Rep. David Balmer said he intends to introduce a bill today that would give the secretary of state greater latitude this year to quickly recertify voting machines.
The bill also would allow election experts from county clerk’s offices to be present during the machines’ testing, to show the testers any techniques the clerks regularly use to increase accuracy.
Balmer, R-Centennial, said the bill is the first step toward repairing this year’s troubled election process. If it passes, and if Secretary of State Mike Coffman can recertify the subpar-rated machines, Balmer said the state’s current voting system would be restored.
However, the bill probably won’t end the contentious debate over how to conduct this year’s elections in the wake of Coffman’s decertification decision.
“This is the first in a series of bills probably to come before the legislature,” said Balmer, who is sponsoring the bill along with Denver Democratic Sen. Ken Gordon. “But this is the part of the equation that has to be done immediately.”
Park County Clerk Debra Green, president of the Colorado County Clerks Association, said election experts from county clerk’s offices should have been allowed to participate in the testing at the beginning.
“We honestly did not feel like our machines were going to be decertified,” Green said. “We have faith in our equipment.”
Balmer’s announcement came on the same day Coffman told lawmakers he is making progress toward recertifying some of the voting machines used across the state.
Coffman told members of the legislature’s Joint State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee he has identified specific ways to address accuracy, security and documentation problems in each of the four models of voting equipment he decertified last year, throwing the election process into chaos for the 53 counties that use one or more of the models.
“I can’t guarantee that these problems can be solved,” Coffman said after the meeting. “But I think we should take a shot.”
Coffman and Balmer said the increased latitude to recertify the machines — which means Coffman wouldn’t have to go back through the entire, lengthy certification process — wouldn’t come at the expense of lowering standards.
But activists said the proposed fixes won’t be enough to salvage voter confidence.
Jenny Flanagan, executive director of Colorado Common Cause, said Coffman and lawmakers should impose extra scrutiny and more audit processes to ensure accuracy.
“There are models out there that can rebuild the confidence . . .,” Flanagan said. “I think we’ll have confidence when we impose . . . additional testing and standards.”
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
