To the Editor:

Regarding the recent Guest Opinion from a former Bucks County public information deputy: She gave what the headline said was an insider’s view of the openness of our county government. Let me assure you that her perception was very different from outsiders’ experiences.

The non-partisan Coalition for Voting Integrity has been petitioning the board of elections (same as the commissioners) for access to voting records since March 15, 2006, when our present voting machines were approved.

First we asked for records from the study by the “interdepartmental interdisciplinary work group” formed by the county board of elections to examine proposals from three voting machine companies. It was announced at that March 2006 commissioners’ meeting that the group had met for three weeks to study the issue. To this day we have not been able to discover the number or names of its members, much less their technical qualifications.

On Nov. 26, 2006, we requested access to the records from that recent election, in writing. Despite multiple repetitions, oral and written, we were not allowed access until mid-February, two and a half months later, and then not until we hired a lawyer to pursue it.

Because we are just ordinary citizen volunteers, not election specialists, we later discovered that we needed more information, so we asked for admittance again, in July.  This time we were told that our application was being referred to the county’s attorney.  It was mid-September before we regained access.

Why should our own, county tax-paid lawyers spend weeks and months studying our petitions before citizens are allowed to see what the law says is our right to see? Is this open government?

Connie Fewlass
Lower Southampton