The council hearing on online petitions should start about 6:30 today at Council Chambers upstairs at 1777 Broadway at Canyon in Boulder.

if you sign up at 5, you can leave and come back about 6:30  and you'll be one of the first to speak and done by 7 ish. But you can sign up anytime during the hearing to speak. 

I could use one more person to pool time with me so I get 4 instead of 3 minutes. And we need people to raise their hands in support too. 

I have one prepared speech, the list of great state ballot initiatives in the last 20 years that I'd like someone to read to show what a good job the people do. 

So please meet me downstairs at 6 so we can plan things a bit!

You can speak for up to 3 minutes!

Here are "talking points" to give you ideas of what to say. We are asking Council to put on the ballot a City Charter Amendment to allow online petitions, with details left up to them to decide if it passes. Please contact me if you can think of other talking points or if anything is confusing: eravitz@gmail.com. Thanks!

Advantages for petition signers:

1. Ability to sign 24/7 from anywhere.

2. Easy to read entire proposal (not just title) online before signing.

3. Ability to "unsign" a petition if you change your mind

4. Easy to determine if you've already signed a particular petition. No possibility of signing twice.

Advantages for petition passers:

1. Easy to get people to sign using social media, email, advertisements, etc. No need for circulators as a government website takes care of everything.

2. No possibility of harassment as experienced by Initiative 97 petitioners.

3. After a transition period, no need for paid petitioners with all the problems they have brought, such as forgery, misrepresentation, stealing of petitions, holding of petitions hostage for money, etc.

4. The money now used for paid petitioners will go to win the election, or, perhaps in the future, to fund deliberation and information for voters, as with Oregon's Citizen Initiative Review: healthydemocracy.org

Advantages for government:

1. Since identification will be the same or similar as now used for voter registration changing your address or party (see how it works at GoVoteColorado.com),
there will be no need for workers to check petitions and signatures, saving money and time.

2. An easier and quicker overall process means less scheduling and other time dependent problems.

3. There will be less lawsuits regarding paid petitioners and harassers.

Advantages for democracy:

1. An easier process levels the playing field for those without the huge funds now needed to hire paid petitioners.

2. An easier process means a greater diversity of ideas on the ballot.

3. An easier process makes it easier and quicker to fix policy mistakes.

4. When this moves to the state level, it will overwhelm the difficulties of the new geographical distribution requirements of Colorado Amendment 71, making initiatives easier and more equitable than before 71. 

Why online petitions are more secure than paper ones

1. Old petitions are public records, available to use as a model for forgery of new paper petitions. Some 2016 petitions: 
https://documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/0/edoc/136637/LTCM%20166.pdf

2. Having temporary workers inspect petitions and compare signatures as done now is hardly scientific or secure. Still, many signatures on Boulder's 2016 Council Term Limits petition were thrown out.

3. Because petitions are public records and identify you by name, they are like online financial transactions, not like votes, which are secret and anonymous, and which experts say should not be cast online. Just like financial transactions, you can view them online.

4. Best would be to add petitioning to the existing Secretary of State's voter registration website, using its identification system, which, since instituted in 2010, has protected registration records while allowing us to change our address or party easily. If the Secretary of State refuses, the database can be easily mirrored and synchronized with daily on a city or county website. Denver's existing app that lets petition passers hand you an iPad to sign is similarly synchronized to the State database: http://303software.com/eSign