[address omitted by OCC editor] 

Murrieta, CA 92562

June 5, 2006

 

Ms. Barbara Dunmore

Registrar of Voters

2724 Gateway Avenue

Riverside, CA 92507-0918

 

Dear Barbara,

 

Thank you so much for conducting the meeting with seven of the members of the Election Observer Panel (EOP) last Thursday (June 1st) to discuss a variety of election integrity systems issues.  There was unanimous agreement among all of the EOP attendees that definite progress was made. 

 

We believe that this meeting and the resulting agreements may herald a new era in cooperation between your office and the citizen-based election integrity efforts.  We share the same mutual goals, as expressed in the Election Observer Panel Plan, to…”encourage participation and build voter confidence in the election process” and to “…ensure that the election process is conducted transparently.” 

 

As you know, Democracy for America – Temecula Valley (DFA-TV) is the citizen advocacy group (and EOP member) that encouraged the initial publication of the EOP Plan and mobilized EOP-eligible parties who then submitted names for appointment to the EOP.  DFA-TV’s goals are “fair, clean, auditable and transparent elections” and thus parallel those of your office. These mutual goals offer a mutual point of focus for our cooperative and collaborative efforts.  As indicated in the May 3, 2006 letter initiating our interaction, we continue to designate Mr. Tom Courbat, Project Director of SAVE R VOTE, a project of DFA-TV, as our key point of contact, with copies of correspondence going to each of the EOP participants and to Central Committee Chairs and leaders of the community-based organizations (CBOs).  

 

As we discussed, there remains a number of issues upon which we will have continuing dialog following the June 6th Primary Election and prior to the November 7th General Election.  We are encouraged by your stated desire to work with us in an effort to address the remaining concerns.  With that, let us turn to the areas that we believe were clarified at our meeting.

 

1.      Reporting and posting of Precinct-level voting data

 

You indicated you made an administrative decision that Riverside County will be out of compliance with the precinct posting code for the June 6th election by virtue of your directing the disabling the printing function of the VeriVote printers so as not to be able to post precinct results at the precincts at the June 6th election.  You went on to emphasize this was a topic you were very willing to discuss further in relation to the November 7th election and that you wished to work with the group to provide precinct information in another way .

 

In an effort to provide our group with meaningful information to assist in the voting data integrity/verification process, you proposed, and we agreed to the following actions related solely to the June 6th election and its subsequent auditing process:

 

  1. Provide a listing of DRE Machine numbers and related precinct numbers (received the same day from Doug Kinzle).
  2. Provide a report of voting results listed by DRE Machine number and associated precinct number after all memory cartridges are counted and entered into the central tabulator the night of the election.  This report will be generated by the central tabulator.  It is recognized by all parties that this does not qualify as “original, raw or fresh” data direct from the DRE at the precinct, as the cartridges will have traveled through several links in the “chain of custody”, any of which could result in changes to the original data.  A CD will then be provided with all election data on it.  This will be posted to the RoV Web site as well.  This report on the CD will be issued the same night/morning of the election, once all precincts have been counted and processed.
  3. You agreed to provide Maxine Ewig with copies of letters you have received from the Temecula and Desert school districts objecting to the use of schools for polling sites.
  4. A listing by precinct number and location of poll inspectors and workers was agreed to be provided.  It has been subsequently located on the RoV Web site.

 

 

2.   Double audits & Absentee Voter (AV) Ballot Counting

 

  1. “Warehouse audit” –In lieu of posting at the precincts on June 6th, you offered to allow us to select any precincts and machine numbers to conduct an audit of the information on the hard drives (redundant memory) of selected DRE voting machines.  This selection and audit is to be limited to one day, unless there are intervening circumstances requiring a longer period.  You indicated that identical vote information remains on the hard drive inside each DRE compared to the vote information that is on the memory cartridges removed from the DREs immediately after the close of polls, and subsequently input into the Central Tabulator.  This “warehouse” audit will serve as a second (although still not “bullet-proof”) check on the accuracy of the data reported by the Central Tabulator.  We are to advise you of the best date during the week of June 19th to conduct this warehouse audit.
  2. The 1% mandatory random manual audit will begin on June 8th, and we will be invited to attend the process, which may extend for a number of days or weeks. 
  3. You agreed to consider our request to be present for the generation of the random process and numbers on June 7th which will be used to determine which precincts will be randomly selected for the 1% mandatory audit.  We discussed the reason for the necessity of our presence, giving the example that in a neighboring county the RoV selected the smallest precincts to minimize the workload, thus violating the letter and intent of the law requiring a “random” selection of precincts.  We wish to avoid any such process that might be subject to criticism of favoritism. For reference, the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th Edition) defines “random” as “…being or relating to a set or an element of a set each of whose elements has equal probability of occurrence”; also “characterized by procedures designed to obtain such sets or elements.”  Thus we view it as crucial that we be invited and closely observe the generation of the random numbers on June 7th for the 1% audit.
  4. You indicated that Absentee Voter (AV) Ballot counting will commence at 8 a.m. on Election Day, June 6, 2006, to include all AV ballots opened by Monday, June 5th.  We appreciate the opportunity to meaningfully observe the process, as provided by Election Code 15100 et seq., “…absentee voter observers shall be allowed sufficiently close access to enable them to observe and challenge whether those individuals handling absentee ballots are following established procedures.”  We understand that the results of the AV ballot counting will be announced at 8 p.m. on Election night and will be reported on a precinct-by-precinct basis.  

 

3.            Central Tabulator Observation

 

            We sincerely appreciate the changes you have agreed to related to observation of the counting process on election night.  Section 15004 of the Election Code states, in part, “…each…party…may…have ...specialists or engineers in attendance at any and all phases of the election.”    Specifically, we understand the following to now be your policy:

 

a.       Observers will be allowed in the “work area” immediately adjoining the central tabulator room.  This area contains extensive glass wherein multiple individuals may observe the data input process and the reporting from the central tabulator.

b.      The prohibition on use of recording devices (audio, video and/or still) has been removed by virtue of revision of the EOP Plan (as reflected now on the RoV Web site).  Thus video taping, photos and other recordations may occur.

c.       You stated categorically that input workers will NOT turn their screens away from the observers nor in any way attempt to block the view of screen messages or keystrokes from the view of observers.  To the extent possible, the input devices will be turned in such a way as to be easily seen by the observers.

d.      The central tabulator messages will also be viewable from the viewing area.

 

4.                  Miscellaneous topics

 

a.      Provisional ballots – please advise us as to when provisional ballots will be reviewed and ultimately counted, so that we may be present to observe.

b.      Post Election Logic & Accuracy Testing – please advices us as to when Post Election L&A testing will occur, so that we may be present to observe.

 

In closing, we thank you for the open and candid dialog during out meeting of June 1, 2006.  We very much appreciate the friendly and cooperative approach you are taking toward citizen and political party involvement in the voting process. We look forward to continuing to work very closely with you and your staff throughout the 2006 electoral process.  While much remains to be accomplished as indicated in our May 3, 2006 letter and subsequent conversations, we believe that great strides have been made already.

 

Please call me at [phone numbers omitted by OCC editor]  if there are any elements of our understanding that are not consistent with your understanding of the agreements we reached.

 

Very best regards,

 

 

Tom Courbat

EOP Key Contact/Member &

SAVE R VOTE Project Director

 

On behalf of the Election Observer Panel Members

 

 

Cc:       Susan Lapsley, Asst. Secretary of State for Elections

EOP Members

            Participating Central Committee Chairs

            Participating Community Based Organization Leaders

            SAVE R VOTE Project Team Members