Voter turnout already nears halfway point

With more than 50 percent of ballots expected to be cast by Tuesday, Colorado polling places will be less crowded. But with the complex ballot, lines likely won't be shorter.

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 1, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Matt McClain © The Rocky

MJM087 Dressed in devil costume, Isabelle Ellertson, 6, waits as her father, Chris Ellertson (cq) votes Friday 10/31/08 at the William A. Scheitler Recreation Center at Berkeley Park in Denver, Colo. on the last day of early voting before the election Tuesday. (MATT MCCLAIN/ ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS)

More than half of Colorado voters will have cast their ballots before Tuesday's record-breaking climax to the 2008 election season.

As a result, some election officials expect fewer people at the polls Tuesday than they saw in 2004, when approximately 1 million people cast their votes on Election Day.

But lines are still likely to be long because of the complex ballot, which includes 14 statewide measures.

Long lines were not uncommon Friday, the last day of early voting, as people hoped to avoid a possibly longer wait Tuesday.

Vincent Miller, 44, of Lakewood, came prepared for a long wait at the early voting center in Golden. He brought a book, The Digital Fortress by Dan Brown, and read as he leaned against a wall at the Jefferson County Administrative Center.

"I came down here so I don't have to wait four hours (Tuesday)," he said.

Miller had been standing in line for 45 minutes by late Friday afternoon and still was around the corner and another wall away from the room where the early voting took place.

County clerks across the state are looking for creative ways to keep lines moving on Election Day. In Douglas County, for example, poll workers will hand voters copies of ballot measures if they need to study up while they are waiting to get into a booth.

Douglas County Clerk and Recorder Jack Arrowsmith said he's hoping to keep the voting time to 10 minutes or less.

"There's no exact science to this," he said.

William Browning, a consultant for the Secretary of State's Office, predicts "moderate" turnout Tuesday because of the huge spike in mail voting. He expects fewer voters to turn out on Election Day than four years ago.

"Mail-in ballot is the big gorilla this year," he said. "It absolutely has changed elections in Colorado."

Voting from home

More than 1.6 million voters received mail ballots in the past month.

Whatever happens Tuesday, the 2008 election season will prove remarkable for several reasons:

* Voter rolls swelled by hundreds of thousands of people in recent months - a good portion of them under age 25 and not aligned with a party.

* The largest voting block changed from Republican men in 2004 to Democratic women this year.

* Overall turnout is expected to break recent records and easily surpass the 2.1 million votes cast in 2004.

* A major shift occurred in how Coloradans cast their ballots.

Unlike 2004, when most votes were cast on Election Day, most of the votes this year are expected to be cast from home.

Take the case of Denver.

In 2004, nearly 104,000 people cast ballots ahead of the election. As of Friday, more than 158,000 people had cast ballots, about three-quarters of them by mail, the rest at early voting centers.

What that will mean Tuesday is anybody's guess.

"The one variable is we have a lot more registered voters than we did in 2004," said Denver elections spokesman Alton Dillard.

In 2004, the city had 304,076 registered voters. Today that number is 415,533.

"It all depends on what happens with mail," said Scott Doyle, Larimer County clerk and recorder.

Not all mail ballots sent out are expected to be cast, but thousands more are expected to stream in before the close of voting on Tuesday.

At the same time, the rise in mail voting cut into early voting participation, with fewer people choosing to vote that way than in 2004.

More uncertainty ahead

With so many people voting by mail and at early voting sites, pressure should be lower at the polls.

But the counting still could go well into the night.

That's because it's not clear how many mail ballots will come back in and what portion will be dropped off on Tuesday.

"Our speed on Election Night is going to be a direct result of how many mail ballots we get on Election Day," said Josh Liss, deputy of elections in Jefferson County.

In other words, the more mail ballots that come in on Tuesday, the later the results will become.

The other wild card is how many inactive voters, which includes those who didn't vote in 2006 - will come out on Tuesday.

"At this point the big question is the inactive voters," Arrowsmith said. "Sometimes we don't really know what to expect from that group."

The election caps a year of uncertainty and challenges for county clerks and their staff.

First, they went through a roller coaster of controversy over certification of electronic voting and counting machines. Secretary of State Mike Coffman banned the use of thousands of machines because of security and accuracy problems but later approved them all.

Coffman's approvals came with new rules and procedures that led some counties to reduce the use of machines to avoid the regulatory hassles.

Controversy over electronic voting also led some counties to not buy as many machines as they originally planned and caused other counties to move to paper ballots.

Denver and Jefferson counties chose this year to adopt primarily paper ballot-based systems, which required significant work and training. Other counties added paper ballots as a choice for voters.

All counties also moved to a new statewide voter registration system, used for the first time statewide in the August primary.

Then, county election offices were flooded with new voter registration forms and mail ballot requests.

Some counties received more than 10,000 forms a day.

The big job now is processing the huge piles of mail ballots before Tuesday. Elections offices are working through the weekend to get through their mail bins.

At the same time, they're training poll workers and finalizing a host of logistical details necessary to operate polling sites on Tuesday.

Jefferson County, for instance, will outfit 30 to 50 "crisis cars" with extra paper ballots and supplies to deliver to polling sites throughout the day if necessary.

This is an extra detail they've worked out even though they expect smaller crowds on Tuesday than in past elections.

"We are ready for whatever scenario we are presented with on Election Day," Liss said. "And, hopefully, a well-deserved rest afterwards."

• November 1, 2008

  1:36 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  evlgreg writes:

  Hmmm... so what do we do when voter turnout hits 101%??

• November 1, 2008

  8:33 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  EXrepublican writes:

  evlgreg writes:
  "Hmmm... so what do we do when voter turnout hits 101%??"

  I would say to be fair. subtract 1% of mcSame votes and count em again...

• November 2, 2008

  5:23 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  EXrepublican writes:

  Sarah Palins foreign policy knowledge...

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbEwKc...

  who knew Quebec is in Canada? too funny!!!

• November 2, 2008

  6:21 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  eoj writes:

  And to make it perfectly clear…
  A Marine's perspective
  Video 3:50 minutes

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAb5lM...

  Proud OR Ashamed…

  And what should have been the final nail…
  Obama & Live Birth Abortion
  Video 5:32 minutes

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYRpIf...

• November 2, 2008

  6:21 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  eoj writes:

  Skin Deep
  USweekly Staff
  We liked Oprah. We liked Obama. When the two joined forces in 2007 we were excited. What new ideas and innovative solutions would these two produce? Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine they would produce the show we saw on the trail in South Carolina.

  Obama angrily rallied crowds with "they shot us with hoses" and "they set dogs on us". Oprah said having Barack Obama as President of the United States would be "living the dream". "Us against Them" and "We shall Overcome" were themes. It was uncomfortable and disturbing.

  Since then we've vetted Barack Obama. Now that we know him, we see where he's coming from, and that's enough for us. We don't need to know any more about Obama. His agenda is apparent in his record. He will change America. Before you vote get to know him. Vet Obama.
  http://www.usweekly.com/

  Did you forget to vet?

• November 2, 2008

  7:19 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  EXrepublican writes:

  Back to the topic... it is good people are voting early. as well as Voting at all.
  To quote Thomas Jefferson. "A little revolution is a good thing"
  Elections are indeed little bloodless revolutions. and it would appear the populace is revolting against the epic failures of republicans.

  If you haven't already...
  VOTE
  Obama/Biden '08

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