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Counties' goal: smooth elections

Officials make significant changes to avoid '06 delays

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 23, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Voting in the 2006 general election was chaotic in some parts of Colorado.

Lines were so long in Douglas County that a Highlands Ranch voter is believed to have been the last in the country to cast a ballot - at 1:30 a.m.

An estimated 18,000 to 20,000 voters left long lines without voting in Denver.

In Steamboat Springs, some voters also went home without voting after waiting in line for up to four hours.

A common theme among the troubled counties - Denver, Douglas, Routt and Montrose - is that they had switched voting systems and weren't prepared. An unusually long ballot worsened delays. And three of those counties were new to electronic voting.

Montrose County had just moved from punch card machines to touch-screen voting terminals that summer.

"They moved from what I call the horse and buggy to the Concorde jet in a space of three months," said Montrose County Clerk and Recorder Francine Tipton-Long, who was not in that position during the 2006 election. "There was totally not enough experience on the equipment."

In 2006, Denver, Routt and Douglas counties had moved for the first time to all-electronic voting in vote centers - polling places open to anybody in the county. Montrose used combined precincts with electronic voting machines and paper ballots.

Since then, all four counties have made significant changes, in part because they are required to by the secretary of state's office.

They scrapped the vote center concept in favor of combined neighborhood precincts, which provides more certainty with the number of voters who will show up on Election Day.

They all are offering paper ballots in addition to electronic voting terminals. And they have added polling sites or other ways of increasing capacity so that lines can move more quickly.

"We don't want to say to anybody that we won't have lines," said Douglas County Clerk and Recorder Jack Arrowsmith, who took office after 2006. "We expect some lines, but, with quite a bit of increased capacity, we hope we're doing a lot to mitigate those lines that we saw in '06."

The four counties are on Secretary of State Mike Coffman's election watch list because of problems during the November 2006 election. A fifth county, Pueblo, also was on the list but was removed in December 2007.

Secretary of state spokesman Richard Coolidge said Montrose and Routt counties have made efforts to get off the watch list.

"The secretary is impressed with their progress and these counties are currently under review," Coolidge said.

Kay Weinland, Routt County clerk and recorder, said the November 2006 election was "one of the longest days of my life."

"I hope that never happens again," she said. "The last thing I want to do . . . is to disenfranchise a voter."

kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2361

What has changed since 2006

The 2006 general election didn't go well in four Colorado counties. Here's what happened and what has changed in preparation for the presidential election.

Denver

* Voters: 387,285*

* What happened in 2006: A new, untested electronic voter registration database crashed on Election Day, causing lines that snaked around the block.

* What has changed: Two election officials quit. Voters chose to scrap the 3-member election commission system in favor of a single elected clerk and recorder. The election office was revamped, with new staff and leadership. The county is switching to combined neighborhood precincts with paper ballots and a limited number of electronic voting machines. It also will use paper poll books to check voters in at polling sites.

Douglas

* Voters: 169,291*

* What happened in 2006: About half of the 28 vote centers were plagued by long lines lasting up to six hours, caused in part by too few electronic voting machines and lack of experience with the equipment, said clerk Jack Arrowsmith, who was not in that position in 2006.

* What has changed: The county bought 100 more electronic voting machines for a total of 400 and switched to combined neighborhood polling sites (28 for the primary and 40 for the general). It also will offer paper ballots.

Routt

* Voters: 15,987*

* What happened in 2006: An insufficient number of electronic voting machines caused lines up to four hours. Some voters left without voting.

* What has changed: County bought 25 more electronic voting machines for a total of 60, changed to combined neighborhood polling places, increased voter education to promote early and mail voting, extended early voting hours, including Saturday hours for the general election, and also will offer paper ballots.

Montrose

* Voters: 23,477*

* What happened in 2006: New electronic voting machines failed due to incorrect operation by poorly trained election workers, causing long lines. Election workers did not provide enough backup paper ballots or contingency plans and didn't follow certain security procedures.

* What has changed: County switched to combined neighborhood polling places and added sites, increased election worker training, and hired three technical staff, according to clerk Francine Tipton-Long. The county used this model in 2007 elections with few problems, she said.