Crosscheck - Colorado

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

1) All records and communications within the office of Election Division — including, but not limited to, communications to and from Director Judd Choate and Deputy Director Hilary Rudy — related to the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program (“Crosscheck”).

2) All records and communications regarding "Crosscheck" involving Kathy Overman, Data and Reports Coordinator, Colorado Department of State.

3) All communications between the office of Election Division and the following Kansas and Arkansas state officials:
(a) Bryan Caskey (Bryan.Caskey@ks.gov)
(b) Jameson Beckner (Jameson.Beckner@ks.gov)
(c) Bruce Ferguson (Bruce.Ferguson@ks.gov)
(d) Vipin Nischal (vipin.nischal@sos.arkansas.gov)
(e) Cecil Davis (cecil.davis@sos.arkansas.gov)

Please provide​ ​all​ ​responsive​ ​records​ ​from​ ​December 1,​ ​2017, through​ ​the​ ​date​ ​​your​ ​search begins.​ The search for responsive records should include all individuals and locations where records are likely to exist.

Furthermore, I seek all responsive records regardless​ ​of​ ​format,​ ​medium,​ ​or​ ​physical​ ​characteristics​. In conducting your search, please understand the term “communications” or “records” in the broadest sense, to include any written, typed, recorded, graphic, printed, or audio material of any kind. I seek records of any kind, including electronic records, audiotapes, videotapes, and photographs, as well as letters, emails, facsimiles, telephone messages, voice mail messages and transcripts, notes, or minutes of any meetings, telephone conversations or discussions. My request includes any attachments to these records.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

As I am filing this request as a member of the news media, I would like to request that any fees associated with the search, review, and duplication of this request be waived. I am a staff reporter of Gizmodo Media Group, a news organization founded in 2002, which services approximately 40 million readers per month. As a news organization, we gather information of potential interest to a segment of the public, use our editorial skills to turn the raw material into distinct work and distribute that work to the public, free of charge.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filed electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not. If you are able to send responsive records by email, you may send them to dell@gizmodo.com.

I certify​ ​to​ ​be​ ​true​ ​and​ ​correct​ ​to​ ​the​ ​best​ ​of​ ​my ​knowledge​ ​and​ ​belief all of the above.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 3 business days, as the statute requires.\

Sincerely,

Dell Cameron

> "Do you really want every record and communication from the Elections Division? Or do you want just those specific to Crosscheck? If it's the former, that is a huge amount of information and we would certainly have to charge a fee and would require a deposit. Please reply with a narrowed request."

The portion of the request you cited already specifically states "related to the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program ("Crosscheck")." We are only interested in emails related to Crosscheck.

> "Next, the amount of time it would take us to review all of Kathy Overman's emails before we release them would likely result in a fee."

For this portion of the request, we've narrowed it down to (a) a single person, (b) a time-frame of less than a month (without weekends and holidays), and (c) a single topic, i.e., Crosscheck. The time frame we've chosen is not arbitrary, nor is this a fishing expedition by any means. We know there were multiple emails and conference calls related to Crosscheck in early December, evidence of which I'm happy to provide. Given the three degrees of specificity we've supplied, I don't think we can narrow this down any further.

We'd also like to note that the records pertain to a matter of public exigency and that the Crosscheck system is the subject of pending legal action. We are requesting these records as part of public-service journalism, and would like to ask your agency to waive any fees associated with the request on this basis.

If your agency does not waive fees when requests are being made for the public's benefit, then please send us an estimate and we may reserve the right to inspect the records at your office before duplicating them.

Thank you Kerry, I really appreciate your time and help on this. Have a great weekend.