The Colorado Supreme Court's decision has reaffirmed that election ballots are open public records. As a result, the public will be able to verify that untraceable votes are accurately interpreted and counted. This decision comes as election officials are preparing for the 2012 presidential election.
In September, 2011, the Colorado Appeals Court ruled that ballots are indeed open public records. The City filed requested that the Colorado Supreme Court reverse the decision. The Supreme Court has now decided not to hear the Koch v. Marks case. The Court chose to end the controversy in favor of election transparency.
"This is a welcome decision that reconfirms the vitality of the Colorado Open Records Act as a powerful tool that permits ordinary Coloradans to hold their state and local governments accountable," said Marks's attorney Robert A. McGuire of Denver.
"Colorado elections once again belong to the people. This decision puts to rest a long-standing controversy between the public and election officials across the state who improperly prohibit the public and press from verifying Colorado's elections. Just as Florida officials welcomed the press to analyze voted ballots in the 2000 Bush/Gore controversy, Colorado officials needed to accept similar transparency rights in our election battleground state," said Marilyn Marks, founder of Citizen Center, and plaintiff in the Aspen case that began in 2009.
"Colorado election officials have fought transparency, despite numerous pro-transparency court rulings and Secretary of State Gessler's guidance that anonymous, untraceable ballots are open public records. Voters' ballots must be untraceable, voted in private and counted in public, as the courts continue to affirm," Marks added.
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