According to an article on the BOCC recall petition hearing in the Pueblo Chieftain last week, Saguache County Clerk Melinda Myers says the Secretary of State’s (SOS) Office would permit the use of the M650 to tabulate recall election results.
The recall committee for Myers represented by former commissioner’s candidate Steve Carlson requested Aug. 2 that Saguache Commissioners appoint an official other than Myers to conduct the recall election and asked that the votes in the election be counted by hand.
Commissioner Sam Pace announced that Saguache Treasurer Connie Trujillo had been appointed to oversee the recall election and would be assisted by a retired Colorado county clerk or other individual familiar with election processes. The decision to hand count the ballots would need to be made by Trujillo and her assistant, Pace said.
In an e-mail sent to answer a question posed by Aspen vote integrity advocate Marilyn Marks July 6, Richard Coolidge, press officer with the SOS told Marks: “The conditions for use for the M650 include use of the Unity software.” Myers used the software during the Nov. 2 election tabulation of unofficial results, but claims not to have used it for running official tabulations on Nov. 19 and Nov. 29, when preliminary numbers were supposed to become official.
In July, Marks and several Saguache County residents asked the SOS to issue a declaratory order determining whether the M650 can be used to tabulate future elections without the software. To date the SOS has not responded to the petitioners’ request for a declaratory order.
The SOS has banned all ES&S equipment for use in counties that must provide an alternative language on the ballot.
The SOS/ES&S Global conditions of use (which applies to all components) read: “Due to known system failures, the vendor did not submit any information to the Testing Board for testing alternative language requirements. Use of this voting system will be limited to counties that are not required to provide alternative languages to voters under Secretary of State Rule 45.5.2.3.4.”
Full Article: Center Post Dispatch Myers says SOS would ok M650 use for recall.