CDP Voting Procedures Makes “Ballot Box Stuffing” Almost Impossible

As the Kimberly Ellis campaign monitors today’s audit of Saturday night’s vote for CDP chair, the procedure for voting in the California Democratic Party Elections makes it apparent that “stuffing the ballot” likely did not occur.  We reached out to the CDP for an explanation of how party elections are conducted.

From the CDP:

First, in order to cast a ballot, a voter must sign their name on at least three records, all of which are maintained by the CDP at the end of the process. First they must sign the registration form when picking up their credential. Second they must sign a second form when they pick up their ballot. Third they must sign the ballot itself.  In addition the voter must sign their credential, though this record is kept by the voter and would not be part of the current review.

Further, any voter not present themselves, wishing to have their vote cast by a proxy must go through an additional process.  They must submit a written proxy form, which has to be reviewed and and approved by a member of the CDP Credentials Committee. 

Second, once a voter has gone through all these steps, and actually marked their ballot, they are required to insert their ballot into a sealed ballot box that is in public view in the voting room.  These ballot boxes are constantly monitored by either CDP staff or a member of the Credentials Committee.  Furthermore observers of the various campaigns are offered the opportunity to monitor the entire process.

Third, if any individual does not appear on the official list and otherwise believes they should be eligible to vote, they are automatically issues a provisional ballot. 

Fourth, the sealed ballot boxes were only opened in view of election observers, who were then present during the entire counting process, with no ballot ever leaving the counting room, providing no opportunity for so-called “ballot stuffing” 

Fifth, no ballots are “destroyed.” In a handful of cases, ballots do have to be voided. For example, a voter may spoil their ballot and request a replacement.  In this case, a new ballot is created in public view (with an announcement made to any election observers present) and the voided ballot is retained in case it is needed for any subsequent review or ballot reconciliation.

Sixth, no part of the counting process relies on so called electronic voting systems (closed or open source). The entire process is conducted manually using paper ballots.  There is no way to “hack the vote.”

Seventh, this manual counting process is built around a system of redundancy. Every single ballot is counted and then recounted by a second individual.  If the counts do not match, the ballots are counted again until the vote is reconciled.  Where questions of voter intent arise, preliminary determinations are made by members of the Credentials Committee.  Observers from the campaigns are allowed to be present during this entire process.

Eighth, all these records are maintained and available for review. Original appointment forms.  County committee rosters.  Sign in sheets. Proxy forms.  The ballots themselves.

Ninth, the CDP does not have secret ballots.  While not the reason for the rule, it provides an incredible disincentive to try to cheat the system.  Any suspected problem ballot can be individually identified, tracked, and segregated from the rest of the vote.  For this reason, the proverbial bad apple cannot spoil the bunch. 

 

So suggestions that ballot box stuffing may have taken place are as likely as using your seat cushion as a floatation device on a flight to Sacramento on Southwest Airlines.

Its going to be in Kimberly Ellis’s best interests to unite the party behind new Chair Eric Bauman or forever “feel the bern” to being irrelevant.