Colorado County Clerks Breaking Election Law On Signatures by Steven K. Paulson

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October 22, 2002 — Clerks in at least four counties have violated a law that requires them to verify absentee ballot signatures because they lack the necessary equipment, Secretary of State Donetta Davidson said today.

The law went into effect June 7, which did not give a lot of counties time to purchase computers or gather signatures to compare with those on absentee ballot envelopes, Davidson said. In some counties, it takes six months to get a purchase order for new equipment.

Davidson said there is no penalty for clerks who have violated the law.

On November 5^th smaller counties will verify signatures by hand, while others will verify only that the envelopes were signed, she said.

"That's the way it has been done for 100 years. We're not doing anything different," she said.

Other pre-election errors resulted in some people getting two absentee ballots in the mail. Davidson said any attempts to use more than one will be caught.

"There isn't going to be any fraud," she said.

Counties that are not verifying signatures at all include Arapahoe, Denver, Boulder and Jefferson. A spot check by the secretary of state's office indicated clerks are following the law in El Paso, Adams, Larimer, Weld and Douglas.

Boulder County Clerk Charlotte Houston said she was told by the secretary of state's office that she does not have to comply with the law until she has the equipment. That would require a new computer and a new database with signatures, which could take years.

She said current law requires her to verify that it is a legal absentee ballot, and to make sure it is signed. She said people also are required to sign for their ballots at polling places, but none of those signatures are verified.

Al Kolwicz, spokesman for a group opposing a ballot provision that would allow the use of mail ballots, said the problems are a good example of why voters should reject any attempt to abandon traditional polling places in favor of mail ballots.

"What that means is that anybody can vote any of these absentee ballots. There is no signature verification going on," Kolwicz said.

Denver resident Jerry Jump said he got two absentee ballots in the mail and worried about fraud.

"I requested one absentee ballot and they sent me two. The clerk said their system would have caught it. I'm taking her word," he said.

Davidson said some Denver voters received two ballots because they were mistakenly sent ballots that did not apply to their districts and were mailed replacements. She said duplicate ballots will not be counted.

Davidson said it will take a year or more for some counties to comply with Colorado's new law. She said a new federal law making its way through Congress would give states until 2004 to begin comparing signatures.

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