Pam and Bob Service, candidates for the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee, announced Sunday their support for the Humboldt Transparency Project.

The Humboldt Transparency Project, being carried out under the leadership of County Clerk/Recorder Carolyn Crnich and the Humboldt County Elections Advisory Committee, will make available digitally scanned copies of ballots cast in an election to anyone who wants them, a news release stated.

This will be done first on DVD, with the eventual goal of being able to post them on the Web.

“This is not some ‘pie-in-the-sky’ notion. We’re going to see it go into effect this election. Now political parties, campaigns, or individual voters can verify election results themselves. It will provide far greater transparency to our elections than could be achieved by measures such as hand counting,” Bob Service stated in the release.

Pam Service pointed out that the Humboldt Transparency Project has the backing of the chief elections officer in the state, Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

“Ms. Bowen supports this not only here but as a prototype for the entire state. I’m proud that Humboldt County is leading California to a higher level of election transparency,” she stated.