Pima County’s Election Integrity Moment of Truth

Will they? Or won’t they?

It seems like a happy victory-day dance is in the works for the many committed citizen activists who have worked for years here in Pima County to improve election security and assure proper public oversight of our entire elections process by the political parties.

The Board has voted unanimously to release all the databases for 2006 elections, including the contentious RTA bond election. The County Administration has produced a memo outlining the process of release (PDF) listing all the materials agreed to be released, the relevant testimony and motions from the Board meeting on 1/8/8, and the proposed logistics of the process for actually turning over the records. It would seem to be the end of the story and perhaps the beginning of a new phase. Time to move on and move forward.

But this battle, and the unreasoning and seemingly inexplicable intransigence of the Board and the Administration to give the public access to these records, right up to the point of a veritable yuppie riot in the Supervisor’s chambers, has fractured the trust of many.

There are persistent and nagging rumors and doubts among the growing community of election integrity activists. Will the County deliver as promised, or will they try yet again to drag their feet or throw a spanner in the works in the hopes of thwarting public access to our election records?

I think it may be premature to speculate about who is doing what behind the scenes to pull their hash out of the fire at the last minute, though there is plenty of such speculation bouncing around the email lists and phone trees, and for perfectly sound reasons, not the least of which is the broken trust I mentioned.

We deserve to trust that our public officials are looking out after the public interest, not just their own backsides. That trust grows when the processes of government are transparent and publicly accountable. That is what a self-governing polity is all about. That is what democracy is all about. That is what this fight is all about.

I don’t expect forensic analysis of the databases will demonstrate any insider fraud in our elections. But it may certainly provide a great deal of embarrassment over incompetence, poor judgment and maladministration, however. And isn’t that sufficient reason for the culpable parties to deny public access if they can? More importantly, the process of analysis will provide the experience, expertise, and tools we need to help the hundreds of counties who haven’t yet begun to realize how vulnerable their own votes are to insider corruption.

So, we wait, expectations raised. Ready to pleasantly surprised as our government delivers promptly and honestly on its word. But also ready to be furious, and to bring the righteous wrath of that growing community of active and committed citizens from every part of the political spectrum down the heads of any who would seek to deny us.