March 16, 2017

Hon. John Hickenlooper

Governor
State of Colorado

Re: Veto request HB17-1014

Dear Governor Hickenlooper:

Verifiedvoting.org respectfully asks your veto of HB17-1014, a bill that would undermine voter
protections of the secret ballot in place in Colorado for over 125 years.

Verifiedvoting.org is non-partisan, not-for-profit research and advocacy organization committed to

safeguarding democracy in the digital age. In 2016 our sister organization Verified Voting
Foundation, with our partners Common Cause and Electronic Privacy Information Center, co-
published The Secret Ballot at RiskRecommendations for protecting democracy linked here.
http://www.secretballotatrisk.org. The report details history of U.S. elections which compelled the
adoption of the secret ballot which may be useful in contemplation of HB17-1014.

Prior to the adoption of the secret ballot in the United States in the late 19th century, vote coercion
and intimidation were common place particularly in the military1 and the workplace.2 The adoption
of the mandatory secret ballot was powerfully effective at eliminating these practices, so much so
that lawmakers today may not recognize the many protections a guaranteed private ballot provides.
The secret ballot reduces the threat of coercion, vote buying and selling, and tampering in elections.
For individual voters, it provides the ability to exercise their right to vote free of intimidation or
retaliation and constitutes a necessary cornerstone of modern democracies.

Colorados founders recognized the importance of the secret ballot by putting a provision to
guarantee the secret ballot in the Colorado constitution.

Colo. Const. Art. 7, 8

All elections by the people shall be by ballot, and in case paper ballots are required to be used, no
ballots shall be marked in any way whereby the ballot can be identified as the ballot of the person
casting it. The election officers shall be sworn or affirmed not to inquire or disclose how any elector
shall have voted. In all cases of contested election in which paper ballots are required to be used, the
ballots cast may be counted and compared with the list of voters, and examined under such

1 Jonathan W. White, Opinion, How Lincoln Won the Soldier Vote, N.Y. Times (Nov. 7, 2014),
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/how-lincoln-won-the-soldier-vote/
2 Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Employer Political Coercion: A Growing Threat, American Prospect (Nov. 23, 2015),
http://prospect.org/article/employer-political-coercion-growing-threat.
safeguards and regulations as may be provided by law. Nothing in this section, however, shall be
construed to prevent the use of any machine or mechanical contrivance for the purpose of receiving
and registering the votes cast at any election, provided that secrecy in voting is preserved.

The guarantee of a required secret ballot is essential to protect the integrity of the electoral system.
HB17-1014 would improperly permit the voter to purportedly make a voluntary choice as to
whether their ballot remains secret. In reality, the integrity of the system collapses when voters may
voluntarily disclose their ballots resulting from peer pressure, subtle pressure from authority
figures, or to attempt to gain favor from officials and authority figures. Only a lawfully mandated
and protected secret ballot can protect all voters from voting intimidation or coercion. The
protection of a mandatory secret ballot for all voters is needed to ensure the integrity of elections
overall.

One can envision a rapid adoption of such practices on a wide-spread basis, where authority figures
see their power to gain influence over voters. For example, students will send their professors their
ballot copies in search of favorable grades. Church-goers will seek approval from their ministers by
demonstrating that they voted right. Property owners will routinely bring their ballots to
negotiations with their tax assessor. The examples are endless, as such information is permitted to
be exchanged for the first time in over 100 years. The mandatory nature of the secret ballot was
designed for the protection of the voter and the integrity of the system. HB17-1014 upends those
essential principles.

Our letter does not attempt to address the numerous complications of election administration and
conflicts with the current law if secret ballots are no longer mandatory. We believe that other
election integrity advocates have submitted their views on those issues, and we urge your office to
consider those complications.

We respectfully request your veto of HB17-1014 in order to protect the integrity of Colorados
elections.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Pamela Smith
President