Introduction: The Move Away from Citizen Control and Citizen Oversight

The more complicated our voting methods get, the fewer citizens can be involved. The expectation that experts will take care of our elections for us is increasing year by year. The shift from single precinct-polling places to super-precincts, early voting, vote by mail, central counting, and other high-tech elements has drastically affected the opportunity of ordinary citizens to oversee their election process in the course of participating in it.
Key elements of Colorado’s electoral process are now privatized. For example, vendors maintain secret, proprietary software and source codes for touch screen voting machines and the statewide voter registration file. The state and county governments are required by statute to maintain open public records, but companies can deny public access in the name of industrial or commercial secrets.