Denver's turnout total falls short of forecasts

18,000-vote variance blamed in large part on long lines at polls

Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 15, 2006 at midnight

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Denver's vote count is 18,000 shy of the expected turnout for an Election Day that saw many citizens leave polling places without casting a ballot because of hours-long waits.

The Denver Election Commission is still counting, but it now knows it received nearly 162,000 ballots, or a 60 percent turnout. It had forecast a 66 percent turnout, or 180,000 votes.

While no one can say exactly how many electors abandoned their place in line, the 18,000- vote shortfall provides the most solid estimate to date.

"I drove to three community centers to attempt to cast my vote. One was so full of people, I couldn't see the walls!" said Ruth Golden, a mother of seven and worn- out Wal-Mart employee, who had her 7- year-old twins in the car with her for part of the two hours she drove around trying to vote. Eventually, she gave up.

"I've always promoted voting. I would ask people who complain, 'Did you vote?' " she said. "But after all that, I lost my desire to even participate."

The lines were caused by voter-registration computers that slowed to a crawl and sometimes stopped as judges attempted to verify registration and guard against double voting. It took as much as 20 minutes to check one voter.

"It's just heartbreaking," said Jenny Flanagan, director of Colorado Common Cause, a sponsor of FairVoteColorado.org. "I don't think we'll ever know how many people left without voting."

FairVoteColorado monitored the mess and alerted voters to polling places with shorter lines. The group is continuing to collect stories from voters who had to leave, many because they had to go to work or take care of kids. "You can't stand in line with a toddler for three hours," Flanagan noted.

The city auditor's office agrees that no one knows how many citizens could not vote. But it is estimating the shortfall at "somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 votes," said spokesman Denis Berckefeldt.

He said Denver traditionally has a turnout somewhere between that of Jefferson County, where 70 percent turned out this year, and Adams County, where 61 percent cast their ballots. That would support the election commission's projection of about 66 percent - if the long lines had not shut out thousands of people.

The 66 percent projection was based on experience, said election commission spokesman Alton Dillard. That was the Denver turnout in 1998, the last time the governor's seat was open.

Jeff Cook, who started a Web site, IDidNotGetToVote.com, to chronicle the problems, said he believes the number of voters turned away is even higher. "I've never seen such motivation."

Stephen Ludwig's attempt to become a University of Colorado regent is still undecided and could have turned on those missing votes.

"Clearly, no one has an exact way to figure out how many people walked away in disgust," said Ludwig, a Democrat. He is thus far pulling 66 percent of the vote in Democratic Denver. So an additional 18,000 votes there likely could have meant 12,000 for him and 6,000 for opponent Brian Davidson.

"If I lose, can we look at the fiasco in Denver and say, 'That made a difference?' I think the answer is yes," Ludwig said.

He thinks he's ahead at the moment but said there are still many provisional ballots statewide uncounted.

The missing votes also might affect the undecided Denver ballot issue on a tax to pay for preschool. It is currently running slightly ahead.

The missing votes probably would not have changed the race for secretary of state because Democrat Ken Gordon is running 20,000 votes behind Republican Mike Coffman.

"When I went to the vote centers on Election Day and saw those huge lines, I had this terrible feeling that the outcome of the election could be affected by the computer screw-up," Gordon said. "And that's not the way it's supposed to work."

Gordon, who is still state Senate majority leader, announced with Coffman on Tuesday that they will work together on election reform. "I'm going to work on legislation and policy so something like this does not happen again," Gordon said.

Contract questions and answers

In May, Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher opposed signing a no-bid, $1.4 million contract for the purchase of new voting equipment from Sequoia Voting Systems because it limited the firm's liability in a catastrophic election failure to the cost of replacing equipment - not the cost of a new election. Here are two of the exchanges in the debate:

• Gallagher's May 10 letter to the election commission:

"Who in the city government has the authority to waive, or release anyone, including a contractor such as Sequoia, from answering to the city's right to sue? Given the concerns related to performance issues of Sequoia and their voting machines and software, it would seem imprudent to waive or cap liability when the potential for greater harm exists."

• Commission spokesman Alton Dillard's reply:

"As you may be aware, the purchase of the new election machines is necessary to comply with . . . the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), as well as (state law) and rules of the Colorado Secretary of State. . . . Sequoia has provided election machines to Denver for more than 50 years to the satisfaction of this agency. Our good working relationship with Sequoia and the astronomical costs associated with trying to integrate the technology of more than one vendor were also factors in the decision."

Missing votes in Denver

• Projected vote 180,000

• Estimated actual vote 162,000*

• Shortfall 18,000

• To register as a turned-away voter: www.fairvotecolorado.org, 303-839-4300 ext. 100, or IDidNotGetToVote.com

*Count To Date, Plus Remaining Absentee And Provisional Ballots.

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