Re: “,” Feb. 15 guest commentary.
Accessible. Accurate. Clean. Fair. Transparent. Integrity. These are key values that guide my decision-making as Colorado’s chief election official and that guided my selection of a new uniform voting system for our state.
Colorado’s election equipment is at or near the end of its useful life. Operating systems are no longer supported by Microsoft. National studies have warned about the major risks of failing to replace election equipment. Continuing to use a hodgepodge of inconsistent and incompatible systems across the state poses a grave risk that jeopardizes Colorado elections.
For more than three years Colorado has been engaged in the most open and thorough election equipment review in our nation’s history. This past November we tested four different vendors’ equipment in real elections. As noted by federal Elections Assistance Commissioner Matt Masterson: “Colorado has set a model for the nation with its voting system selection process. Requiring field demonstrations and an independent review board are best practices that the commission will share with other states.”
After nearly 20 public meetings in 2015 alone and direct input from voters, judges and clerks, a bipartisan panel of election experts selected one vendor as the best — Dominion Voting Systems Inc., a corporation with its principal place of business right here in Denver, and that has won a number of contracts, both local and statewide, across the United States. Having lost the competitive process, a couple losing out-of-state vendors and their advocates now complain, as witnessed by the commentary published in The Denver Post last Monday.
Dominion allows judges to specifically review how each ballot was tabulated — a critical process that ensures accuracy, cleanness, integrity and transparency. Citizens with disabilities also rated Dominion the best and urged a single system.
Uniformity permits a county to receive help from others during disasters, recalls, and staff turnover, permits consistent standards and results in lower costs. One of the first counties to adopt the new system reported a savings of more than 25 percent — a huge benefit to taxpayers.
But ultimately the most important reason for a uniform system is fairness. Every Coloradan’s vote should be treated and counted the same — not be based on how different systems tabulate the imperfect marks that voters sometimes make.
When I ran for secretary of state, I promised fair and clean elections. The open, thorough and transparent process used by Colorado resulted in the selection of one vendor whose equipment ensures precisely that.
Wayne Williams is Colorado’s secretary of state.
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