Voted ballots should be kept secret, secure and off-limits for public inspection — even if the person asking is Colorado’s top election official, the Saguache County clerk and recorder has argued in a court filing.
Melinda Myers said Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler doesn’t have the authority to conduct a “hand review” of voted ballots from the county’s 2010 general election. Allowing such a review “would violate the confidentiality historically afforded a voted ballot in Colorado,” Saguache County attorney Benjamin Gibbons wrote in response to a lawsuit filed against Myers by Gessler’s office last month.
Gessler had planned for his staff to publicly inspect ballots from the election, which was riddled with so many problems that the Colorado attorney general’s office has launched a criminal investigation. Less than two days before the scheduled inspection, however, Myers told Gessler that she wouldn’t hand over the ballots without a court order.
The case has opened a new debate over whether ballots should be available for public review in Colorado.
Full Article: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17779986