Graciously, Mr. Hamrick responded almost immediately. He was polite, professional, and courteous - for which I am grateful. Here is a copy of our correspondence:
On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 2:51 PM, Justin Riggs http://us.mc448.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=juriggs@yahoo.com wrote:
Hi,
I am researching the topic "Who makes sure our Presidential candidates are eligible?" as a sort of personal civics project. Although I'm nearly certain that the certification process wouldn't occur on the county level, could you please confirm for me whether or not this process takes place at a county level? (Also, if you know where the certification process does take place, I would be grateful if you would share that information with me).
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Your Fellow Citizen (and Proud Arapahoe County Voter),
Justin W. Riggs
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On Tue, 12/2/08, Chair, Arapahoe Democrats
From: Chair, Arapahoe Democrats
Each county conducts the certification of every election. A canvass board is appointed by each major political party and the county clerks. Part of the process is reviewing provisional ballots to see which are eligible to be counted, reviewing machine results and the paper ballot machines (Optical scanners). I have been involved in doing this for the last three elections. This certification takes place in the Arapahoe County voting facility and starts a few days after the election and in this years case, was completed on Nov 21st. Each county then forwards these results to the Secretary of State. As far as who verifies that each candidate is eligible, I would think that would have to be done by the federal election commission upon each candidate filing for office. If you have more questions, please feel free to send me a return email or give me a call.
Respectfully,
Michael Hamrick
(personal contact info cut)
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Michael,
Thank you very much for your prompt and courteous response - some have not been so kind!
Unfortunately, I've already checked with the FEC. They say they are only involved in "administering and enforcing the statute that governs the financing of federal elections." I also checked with NARA, the folks who administer the Electoral College process - they said "The Office of the Federal Register does not have the authority to handle issues related to the general election, such as candidate qualifications." They referred me to my Secretary of State. The Secretary of State's office said (in a form letter - my question wasn't about citizenship in particular) "the process of nominating and certifying presidential candidates to the ballot is party-oriented; candidates are certified to the state and, therefore, the legal responsibility for confirming citizenship... (or any other qualification) lies with the certifying entity. Any questions regarding the qualifications of a presidential candidate should be directed to the parties, who are the certifying entities in this case."
I assumed that meant the state party, but I thought I'd check with the county party, too, since I haven't heard back from the state (it's only been a few days). By chance, do you know who in the state party I would direct my question to? I'm afraid I sent it too high up the chain of command, and that it's not going to get answered.
Again, I appreciate your willingness to help, and wish you a happy holiday season.
Justin
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If I hear back again from Michael, I'll provide an update. I'm hoping he can help me find someone at the state level who can help me answer my questions.
