1 million voting today the old-fashioned way

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 4, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated November 4, 2008 at 12:40 a.m.

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Photo by Ellen Jaskol / The Rocky

Brion McMaster holds a mail-in ballot in his mouth as he waits to drop it off Monday at the Denver Elections Division. About 1.7 million Coloradans voted early.

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Today is the climax to a frantic, emotional and historic election season as roughly 1 million Coloradans go to the polls to pick a new president, senator and wade through 14 statewide ballot questions.

More than 1.7 million of the 2.6 million active registered voters have already voted. In all, turnout is expected to exceed 90 percent.

Thanks to the popularity of early and mail voting, many people casting ballots the old-fashioned way today - at churches, rec centers and elsewhere - should have an easier time.

Still, lines could be long because of the complex ballot and the possibility that legions of voters who don't usually turn out or who have given up on their mail ballots show up at polling places.

El Paso and Denver counties have the most potential for large crowds. Both counties could see more than 200,000 people who haven't voted early or who are dropping off mail ballots.

The other counties that could see more than 100,000 voters are Adams, Arapahoe and Jefferson, though clerks expect lower numbers to show up.

Prepared to help

On Monday at the Denver Elections Division, 3888 E. Mexico Ave., the cramped waiting area was filled with dozens of voters who took numbers to wait for assistance with ballots that needed to be replaced because of mistakes, damage or delays in delivery.

Secretary of State Mike Coffman said his office will be prepared to help counties if any problems arise. He doesn't expect full results until Wednesday.

"There will be lines during the peak hours in the morning and just before the polls close, but the counties have plans in place to get voters through the lines as quickly as possible," Coffman said.

In recent months, voter rolls have swelled by hundreds of thousands of people, the result of aggressive voter drives. The face of the voting public in Colorado also shifted dramatically. The largest voting block changed from Republican men in 2004 to Democratic women in 2008.

The growth and shift in the voter rolls also have spurred controversy.

Accusations of fraudulent registrations - unproven in Colorado - have swirled and led to criminal investigations in other states.

In addition, Coffman's efforts to cancel registrations of felons, people who have died or are signed up more than once brought a lawsuit from interest groups and a demand last week from a federal judge that Coffman stop the practice.

Plenty of scrutiny

It's against that backdrop that Colorado will see plenty of scrutiny by voting rights groups, party officials and others.

The most scrutiny will be placed on the largest counties. Eight of the state's 64 counties account for 80 percent of the vote. Two of the largest, Denver and Douglas, have had problems in the past with long lines and technology breakdowns.

Both counties have made major changes to their election process. Denver moved to a paper ballot system and Douglas added paper ballots to its e-voting equipment. They've also beefed up their army of election judges. For example, about 2,000 temporary workers have been hired by the Denver Elections Division.

Unlike 2004 and 2006, most Colorado voters will make their choices on paper ballots instead of on electronic terminals. Jefferson and Larimer counties added paper ballots for the first time in recent elections.

And other counties, such as Adams and Arapahoe, have printed backup paper ballots in case they have problems with their electronic voting terminals.

Still, some election experts are worried.

"We expect high volume all around the state," said Jenny Flanagan, executive director of Colorado Common Cause. "And in the areas where we run out of ballots, or we have any problems with our voting machines - that's where the long lines will pop up."

Denver Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O'Malley said her county is under the spotlight because of past election problems.

"We're under significant pressure," she said Monday. "Right now, we're happy with where we are. I think we've turned the table on a lot of our operations."

kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2361 Staff writer Kevin Vaughan contributed to this report.

Election Day is here

*Need a ride to the polls? You can call the Obama campaign at 877-CO-08-VOTE or the McCain campaign at 303-952-4670 to get a lift.

* Questions? Following is contact information for county clerks across the state. Contact your local office, go to govotecolorado.com, call 303-894-2200 or go to RockyMountainNews.com/extras for more answers to Election Day questions.

COUNTY WEB SITE PHONE

* Adams adamselections.org 303-920-7850

* Arapahoe arapahoevotes.com 303-795-4511

* Boulder voteboulder.org 303-413-7740

* Broomfield broomfield.org/elections 303-464-5857

* Denver denvervotes.org 720-913-8683

* Douglas douglasvotes.com 303-660-7444

* Jefferson votejeffco.com 303-271-8111

* El Paso car.elpasoco.com 719-520-6226

* Larimer larimer.org/elections 970-498-7820

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