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Despite a few 'hiccups,' voting goes smoothly in Denver

By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 4, 2008 at 10:58 a.m.
Updated November 4, 2008 at 11:17 a.m.

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Denver Election Division spokesman Alton Dillard said a “little hiccup” this morning when south Denver poll workers opened without part of their voter registration list has been resolved.

Photo by Alan Gathright/Rocky Mountain News

Denver Election Division spokesman Alton Dillard said a “little hiccup” this morning when south Denver poll workers opened without part of their voter registration list has been resolved.

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DENVER ELECTION HEADQUARTERS -- There was a “little hiccup” this morning when south Denver poll workers opened without part of their voter registration list, causing some voters to wait and others to drive to election headquarters for provisional ballots.

Election officials said the problem was fixed in 20 minutes when another copy of the missing voter registration list was rushed to the Christ Church Community Church polling place at 8085 E. Hampden Ave.

“That’s been resolved. That section of the poll book is out at the location,” said Denver Election Division spokesman Alton Dillard. “We’re also reminding our supervisors that a provisional ballot situation is handled at the polling place.”

“We’re going too have these little hiccups when we’re going from a 22-person full-time workforce to a 2,300-person citywide workforce,” he said.

Overall, voting is going smoothly in Denver as early lines of eager, anxious voters waiting for polls to open at 7 a.m. quickly melted.

“I think they were anticipating the worst and it turned out fine,” said Wendy Boyer, an election judge at University View Church Christian Church in southeast Denver where 15 people were waiting when the polls opened.

Farther east at Cook Park Recreation Center, 25 voters were waiting for the polling place to open as the sun rose.

“They came, they saw, they voted,” joked Margaret Weiland, an election judge with 25 years of battle-tested experience.

“Voting has been steady, no big rushes,” she added. “We are handling it.”

In one other glitch, there we no ballot “privacy sleeves” for those voters who wanted them at Church of the Risen Christ on South Monaco Parkway.

Election workers drove a bundle of privacy sleeves to the church, said Dillard, noting that they’re typically only provided at a polling place when voters ask for them.