June
5, 2006 (via E-mail, hard copy to follow by U.S. Mail)
Mr.
Tom Courbat
Murrieta,
CA 92562
RE: Letter received via E-mail on June 5, 2006
Dear
Mr. Courbat:
I am in receipt of your letter received
via E-mail on June 5, 2006 regarding the June 1, 2006 meeting between the
Registrar of Voters (ROV) and the Election Observer Panel (EOP).
In the letter you reference Democracy
for America-Temecula Valley (DFA-TV) as mobilizing the eligible parties to
submit nominees for the EOP and subsequently included the nominees in your May
3, 2006 letter to the ROV. Absent from
that list were the Republican, American Independent, and Natural Law central
committee chairpersons and any associated nominees. On the other hand, the Peace and Freedom central committee chairperson
and two community groups were listed without nominees.
Your June 5, 2006 letter is copied to
“Participating Central Committee Chairs,” presumably omitting again the parties
noted above and absent from your May 3, 2006 letter. However, you sign the letter “On behalf of the Election Observer
Panel Members.” Correspondence from the
ROV relating to the Election Observer Panel will be provided to community
groups with EOP members and ALL central committee chairpersons.
You state in your letter that DFA-TV
has designated you as their key point of contact. You proceed in the letter to continually reference “our group,” presumably
referring to DFA-TV. I want to make it
absolutely clear that I am working with the multi-partisan EOP of which DFA-TV
has been afforded membership. The ROV’s
efforts are to provide ALL parties meaningful information for election
analysis.
The following comments are made in
regards to your summary of the June 1, 2006 EOP meeting.
1)
The parameters set on the Edge II voting units for June 6,
2006 will not allow automatic printing of the summary results to the VeriVote.
2)
The Election Day result cartridges remain in the Registrar
of Voters custody and the vote data contained therein does not change from the
time the cartridge is removed from the voting unit, tallied, and stored at the
ROV.
3)
The EOP and the Registrar will AGREE on a date to occur no
sooner than June 19 and prior to certification of the official results.
4)
The 1% manual audit is a public process and no specific
invitation is required to observe the process.
5)
The first election results released after the polls close on
Election Day contain the absentee ballots counted up to that time combined with
votes cast during early voting. These
results are usually released around 8:15 p.m. and are not available at the
precinct level until the Statement of Vote is published at the conclusion of
the canvass period.
6)
Staff will position laptops attached to cartridge readers in
a comfortable position that should enhance observers’ view of the screen. To the extent that the screen is viewable,
tally server messages, if any, may be viewable.
7)
Canvass must be accomplished in 28 days. The ROV will not impede the canvass process
by noticing or contacting individual groups on each activity. You may call the ROV to find out the
activities scheduled for the day.
If you require any further information,
please contact me.
Sincerely,
Barbara
Dunmore
Registrar
of Voters
cc: Ms. Susan Lapsley, Asst. Secretary of
State for Elections
Riverside County Central Committee
Chairpersons
Election Observer Plan Members