Colorado Ethics Watch today called on El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Robert Balink to release a copy of his election day preparedness plan in response to concerns that the clerk’s office is not prepared to handle ballot shortages at some or all voting locations in the county.  Luis Toro, senior counsel of Ethics Watch, released the following statement:

“Despite repeated requests from our office, the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder refuses to give voters details on how he plans to address potential shortages of paper ballots on election day.  Mr. Balink is demonstrating a troubling lack of transparency only days before an election expected to draw record-high voter turn out.  It begs the question: What is Mr. Balink hiding?” 

On October 7, 2008, Ethics Watch sent a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request to Mr. Balink, seeking among other things “Any and all documents related to printing additional ballots as needed on election day.”  Mr. Balink’s office first advised Ethics Watch that the information is contained in El Paso County’s “security plan” filed with the Secretary of State.  Then, after learning from the Secretary of State’s office that the information is indeed subject to CORA in redacted form, Mr. Balink’s office indicated it did not know what information to redact from the “security plan” and therefore it would not release the document at all.

“Mr. Balink has a duty under open records laws to release the information and, more importantly, he has a duty to ensure that every voter has an equal opportunity to vote on election day,” Toro continued. 

Mr. Balink's partial responses to Ethics Watch's CORA request are available through this link.