About Us

We are a state-wide, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates for verifiable, transparent and accurate elections in Minnesota and across the country. We have organized four state-wide non-partisan observations of audits or recounts in Minnesota, including the 2008 recounts.

We formed shortly after the 2004 election. We were troubled by reports of electronic voting problems, the disenfranchisement of minority voters, discarded ballots and other voting irregularities. Our initial focus was supporting the Ohio recount to which we sent nine observers from Minnesota. (See our op ed on the resources page.)

Our primary purpose is to ensure that votes are counted accurately. We educate citizens about our election system, publicize concerns about voting technology, encourage citizen participation in the election process and lobby our government officials to support election reform.

Our efforts are part of a burgeoning national voting rights movement committed to restoring the integrity of our electoral system through the implementation of:

• Voter verified paper ballots as the legal ballot of record for all elections.
• Accurate recording, counting, and reporting of all votes properly cast.
• Random hand recounts that are part of post-election routine audits.
• Consistent enforcement of election procedures to ensure that everyone who wants to vote can do so without difficulty.
• Public oversight (eg of voting machine software source code) and non-partisan administration of the election system.

Our primary focus is on these issues, but we also support related election reform efforts and the democratization of the election process as outlined in the Voter Bill of Rights (see resources page under handouts.)

Director and Founder - Mark Halvorson

Mark was an observer to the 2004 Ohio Presidential recount. In 2005 he served as co-chair of the legislatively mandated voting machines options working group. In 2006 CEIMN played a role in improving Minnesota’s current audit law and coordinated the nations first citizen based observation of a post-election audit.

In 2007 Mark helped to organize the first national audit summit, served on the Brennan Center Audit Panel and testified before a New Jersey State Senate committee on their proposed audit bill. Mark was the executive editor of "Principles and Best Practices of Post-Election Audits" (http://www.electionaudits.org/principles). Mark consults closely with election integrity leaders across the country on audit legislation and served on the League of Women Voters national audit working group. Prior to directing CEIMN he worked as a social worker for 15 years and before that as a community organizer for 10 years.

Associate Director - Kathy Bonnifield

Kathy Bonnifield has worked in the non-profit world for over 15 years. Early in her career she was Peace Corps Volunteer in Sri Lanka and Nepal. Upon returning to the States, she joined the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT), where she worked as the Manager of Individual and Institutional Philanthropy and later volunteered for CVT in Turkey as a Communication and Logistics Specialist as part of its New Tactics in Human Rights Symposium. Most recently, she worked as a Program Administrator for The McKnight Foundation.

Her election-related experience includes working as an election judge for Ramsey County and the City of Minneapolis. She has also been on a number of election observation missions with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Kathy was an active volunteer and board member for CEIMN before joining as its Associate Director.

CEIMN Organizing Committee

• Bert Berlowe
• Linda Goodspeed
• Stan Hilliard
• Carol Johnson
• Kirk Lund
• Jim Moechnig
• Ken Paddock