Greetings. In the 30+ months of developments in our first-in-the-nation online petitions for direct democracy, only KGNU radio has done a good job, until the Boulder Weekly's article yesterday: 

https://www.boulderweekly.com/news/advancing-democracy/

Still, nobody has covered all the lying, cheating and fraud and waste by city staff which I've documented at tinyurl.com/petitionstory

Here is the comment I posted on their story:

Good article. A few important points, from my perspective as the spearhead of the online petitioning project when I was a member of the city's Campaign Finance and Elections working group:

1. Maplight's FREE offer would have allowed BOTH online and paper petitioning, integrated into one system, just like most online commerce allows you to use the web or order by phone. City staff instead are forcing petitioners to choose one or the other. This may result in the system, costing us up to $500,000, never being used!

2. Maplight's free offer was going to use open source (public) software, meaning that other cities or states would be able to use the software for free. Instead, the system will use Runbeck's proprietary (secret) software, so that other cities and states will have to buy it all over again, thus limiting its use greatly during a time of huge budgetary problems. Open source software is more secure because any programmer can inspect it for flaws. With the software the city has purchased, we have to trust Runbeck 100% because we cannot inspect what we bought.

3. Maplight's free offer was rejected by City staff on false pretenses! On December 18th, 2019, then-City IT director Julia Richman told the working group and City Council Members Rachel Friend and Adam Swetlik that "Maplight has never built a secure system available to the public" and "their free system included zero security protocols."

You can hear audio of her claims and see proof that they are false by going to tinyurl.com/petitionstory and viewing slides 15-19. Maplight HAS made many secure websites, including for the California Secretary of State and the League of Women Voters, and their free offer included standard security measures. Julia Richman left her job with the city a few weeks later.

One small correction: voters passed online petitioning not as an ordinance, but as a City Charter Amendment, by 71-29%.

BTW, It was Noam Chomsky who said, "There's nothing the ruling class hate more than democracy." I was just quoting him.

Please look at all of tinyurl.com/petitionstory. The level of lying and cheating and fraud by City staff is unbelievable, but you can see the video and documents and hear audio yourself.

Please email City Council (council@bouldercolorado.gov) and ask them to get this done -and to allow BOTH online and paper petitions and using OPEN SOURCE software.

Thanks for all your help. Powerful people have corrupted City of Boulder staff. I suspect big oil and gas, who spent some $50 million to make state constitutional initiatives much harder with Amendment 71. The last thing they want is us making the process easier than ever!

Evan Ravitz, eravitz@gmail