Pima County will release the databases from the 2006 RTA election โ a vote that touched off questions about the integrity of the county's ballot-counting procedure.
The release will allow Demo-cratic Party activists to examine the results for evidence of tampering. The decision goes beyond a judge's order that the county release the final databases from the 2006 primary and general elections.
Faced with a raucous crowd of more than 60 people demanding the county release the RTA database, the Board of Supervisors Tuesday originally voted only not to appeal the judge's order, which amounted to agreeing to release those records.
Republican Supervisor Ray Carroll voted no because he wanted the RTA records released as well.
The issue was scheduled for an executive session to receive legal advice, but the supervisors remained in open session and heard from five speakers before the first vote.
But the crowd didn't disperse after the vote, instead remaining to speak at call to the audience, which is scheduled for the end of the meeting.
Carroll repeatedly asked the other supervisors why they did not want to hear from the more than 30 people who signed speaker cards and continued his questioning after the vote.
Elections-integrity activist John Brakey started shouting that people had waited far too long already and should not have to wait any longer.
Brakey sat down after board Chairman Richard Elias repeatedly told him he was out of order and threatened to have him removed.
"We cannot turn this into a carnival," Elias said as the crowd became increasingly unruly.
But as Brakey quieted, a chant went up: "We want our voices heard. We want our voices heard."
Elias then agreed to hear the speakers, some of whom said they were "disgusted" with having to "beg" for public records.
The Democratic Party says access to the computer files is necessary for it to perform its election-oversight duties in a high-tech age. Other parties also would have access to the files.
After hearing from more than 20 speakers, Elias made a motion to reconsider the earlier vote, and the supervisors voted unanimously to release the RTA records as well as the 2006 general and primary records. They also voted to release all the files associated with the three elections, instead of just the final databases, as ordered by the judge.
The crowd rose in a standing ovation after the vote.
The Regional Transportation Authority election created a half-cent sales tax to fund a $2 billion, 20-year transportation plan.
After raising concerns about practices within the county elections division and the security of electronic vote-counting machines, the county Democratic Party sued the county for access to the computer files from past elections.
At trial, the party presented witnesses who testified an elections employee took home backup files, and the county lost tapes of the RTA election after they were returned by the secretary of state.
Pima County acknowledged security flaws in new technology and has developed a plan to address many of the problems. The county is accepting public comment on the plan until the end of the week. It is available on the county Web site, www.pima.gov.
Activists have said the plan is a good start but still leaves the system vulnerable to hacking by an insider.
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said he will present a revised plan and a summary of public concerns in February and suggested the supervisors could decide then if they want to ask for a court order to recount the paper ballots from the RTA to reassure the public the election was fair.
Elias made a motion to have the county ask for such a recount, but it was not voted on because there was no agenda item related to the RTA election. Voting on items not on a posted agenda is a violation of the Open Meetings Act.
Attorney Bill Risner, who represented the Democrats, said such court orders are hard to obtain, and the release of the database is a much more certain way to examine the election results, given the judge's ruling after the trial determined that election databases are public records.
John Moffatt, a technology expert with the county, said it should be a simple matter of copying the databases to a disk, and he would work with representatives from all the recognized parties to get the information out as soon as possible.
Risner said the party will develop a computer program to analyze the databases, which it will make available to anyone who wants it.
Risner said there still are legal issues that have to be resolved.
He wants a ruling that the databases always are public records and must be released promptly enough to let political parties challenge an election within the five-day deadline.
Risner also has asked the court to award his team $279,907 in legal fees.
DID YOU KNOW โฆ
It took 20 years and four tries after Maricopa County adopted a transportation sales tax for Pima County residents to approve a similar levy.
Maricopa County expects to complete the last stretch of freeway authorized in its original 1986 vote later this year.
