In 2000 Kathleen Harris was the Secretary of the State in Florida. She was also the co-chair of George W. Bush's Florida election campaign.
In 2004 Ken Blackwell was the Secretary of the state in Ohio, as well as Chief Elections Official in Ohio.
This year in Colorado, a state which will play an important role in this years election, Mike Coffman is playing a dubious role in the states election process.
Jenny Flanagan, who is the executive Director of Colorado Common Cause, has raised concern. From the Durango Telegraph:
Flanagan also fears that the state will fail this test. In the wake of the election, her group released a study of voting preparedness in all of the swing states. The report highlighted a number of significant problems in the basic functions of Colorado’s election administration system.
The study she is referring to covers 10 of this elections battleground states and shows that we may be headed for some trouble.
As election officials brace for record-breaking voter turnout on Election Day, a close examination of voting preparedness in 10 swing states shows that significant problems in the basic functions of the American election administration system persist, and in a few cases have worsened over the last few years, a new report by Common Cause and The Century Foundation shows.
The report, "Voting in 2008: 10 Swing States," examined what, if any, progress has been made since 2006 in seven battleground states: Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In addition, Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia, whose new status as likely swing states, and the potential for election administration difficulties, have also been included.
Colorado has standards for elections that are not at all clear. To complicate things further, Colorado is using a new registration database system, known as SCORE.
"Anytime, you introduce new 4 technology, it’s got to raise a red flag," Flanagan said. "Here we have a new voter database system that’s untested. Voters may not appear or through some glitch, there may also be errors."
To make matters worse, the technology should have been online in 2006. However, Colorado is two years behind the Help America Vote Act mandate, due in part to the original vendor violating its contract and Colorado having to return to square one.
Nonethelees, the database was deployed to all 64 counties in April following a test run.
Enter Mike Coffman. Mike Coffman tested the new SCORE system in May. he was happy with the result. Colorado Common Cause on the other hand notes that they found major glitches in the system. Any time I hear the term, 'glitches', in respect to elections I get pretty nervous.
It only gets worse.
Coffman took another controversial step in March this year when he announced that Colorado would be "re-certifying" several optical scanners and central count scanners for use as voting machines in the 2008 election. The machines had been deemed defective and ordered de-certified following a June 2006 lawsuit brought by a group of Colorado voters. In that case, the Denver District Court ruled against the Secretary of State’s Office, noting that the office failed to "develop minimum standards" for the scanners. However, the same "defective" machines will be back in action on Nov. 4 following Coffman’s recent re-certification.
You heard that right.
The machines had been deemed defective and ordered de-certified
Then there is the small issue of 19.4 percent of the voter rolls being 'purged'.
In 2006, then-Republican Secretary of State Gigi Dennis went through the voter rolls in an effort to eliminate ineligible voters. That "purge" resulted in a staggering 19.4 percent of Colorado voters being removed because they no longer met state residency qualifications or had committed a felony.
"That’s a staggering number," Kuhns said. "It’s far and away the largest purge of any state in the country. I’m concerned that eligible voters all over the state, and especially in Denver, have been purged."
Coffman, as Secretary of the State will be overseeing his own election as well. He is running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. ProgressNowAction is calling foul.
With last Friday's latest blow-up in a growing record of conflicts of interest, ProgressNowAction called on Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman to resign his office immediately. The group also launched a statewide online petition calling of the public to join them in their call for Coffman to resign because he cannot adequately oversee an election in which he is also a congressional candidate.
"Secretary Coffman has a pattern of conflicts of interest and should resign immediately," stated Michael Huttner, Executive Director of ProgressNowAction, the state's largest online advocacy organization. "After last Friday's resignation of the State Elections Director, Coloradans need a full-time Secretary of State, not someone who's campaigning full-time and overseeing the election on the side."
Coffman was elected Secretary of State less than two years ago and is responsible for facilitating and regulating all precedures for fair and efficient elections in Colorado. He decided to run for Congress after only nine months on the job. And in his short tenure, he has faced continuous criticism for conflicts of interest.
You can sign their petition here.
Colorado has had problems with its voter database in past elections as well.
Colorado -- a crucial swing state -- completed its $13 million database this year after firing Accenture in 2005. A little-known Oregon company named Saber, which has created databases for 11 states, replaced it. Accenture retained its contract in Pennsylvania, though problems occurred there as well. In 2005, one state official called the $20 million system "seriously if not fatally flawed."
It is not too late to act.
Contact the Secretary of State's office here.
or the Denver District Attorney's office here.
Make sure you and everyone you know are Registered to Vote. Check again before the Election.
and of course....
Donate.
Volunteer.