Voters encounter some problems, but nothing to match 2006 calamities

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 5, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Ellen Jaskol / The Rocky

Denver election workers Anne Deaderick, left, and Sean Essex try to determine the reason an electronic scanner rejected a ballot.

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Voting in Colorado generated a few glitches, disputes and gripes but none of the embarrassing meltdowns that plagued earlier elections.

The chief complaint from poll watchers: Some election judges were too quick to dispense provisional ballots to voters who had even minor problems with their registrations or IDs.

And in some places that relied on e-voting, a few machines broke down early in the process.

But compared with the major delays in 2006, "there was nothing along those lines," said Jenny Flanagan, executive director of Colorado Common Cause. "And that's good for Colorado."

She said voting-rights groups expected trouble in Denver, including long lines. Two years ago up to 20,000 frustrated voters left polling places without casting ballots.

"We just didn't see it."

In Denver, officials fixed minor problems quickly, including sending a poll book to Christ Community Church, 8085 E. Hampden Ave., when election workers discovered they didn't have part of the voter list.

"We have a very good Election Day," said Denver Elections Director Michael Scarpello.

But there were a few rough spots in Arapahoe County.

Voting machines malfunctioned soon after the polls opened at a half-dozen sites, including Heritage Christian Center on East Florida Avenue and Boston Elementary in Aurora.

Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder Nancy Doty said she immediately sent technicians to fix machines.

"It isn't like no one couldn't vote," Doty said. "It's normal that you had to replace a machine here and there."

Voters and poll watchers also complained about registration problems in Arapahoe and Denver counties, Flanagan said. She said provisional ballots "were given out to any voter with the first sign of a registration problem."

Provisional ballots require extra paperwork and are investigated after the election and added to the final count two weeks later. Up to 25 percent of these ballots cast in 2004 were thrown out.

David Becker, who used to monitor elections for the U.S. Justice Department, visited a number of polling sites in Denver and Boulder counties and said in a blog that "it's pretty clear that the major election administration story here is inaccurate voter rolls and the high number of provisional ballots that resulted."

He said poll workers handled voter-registration problems inconsistently and some didn't do an adequate job directing voters to the correct polling site.

Becker, now working for a Washington, D.C., nonprofit research group Electionline.org, said a third of the voters who cast ballots in a 30-minute period at the Barnum Recreation Center in Denver voted provisionally.

"On the bright side, the polling sites seemed to be well-run otherwise. Early voting seems to have really had a positive effect reducing the strains on Election Day. Lines were not particularly long, and despite good turnout, few, if any, voters were waiting longer than 30 minutes to vote."

A number of voters at Boston Elementary School in Aurora were not listed on the registration rolls, said poll watcher Carol McLean with Colorado Democrats.

"Some people had registered but never voted, some didn't vote in the last two elections, or they had moved several times but in the same district," she said.

At 4 p.m., Leonard Surprenant, another poll watcher, said 185 people had voted, and 28 of them were given provisional ballots.

McLean said that around 2 p.m., the polling place was down to four provisional ballots, and the supervising judge called the county to get more.

Republicans and Democrats complained about robocalls with false information about voting in Mesa and Pueblo counties.

Criticism flew in Weld County because of an alleged lack of translators for Spanish-speaking voters and police presence at vote centers.

The Colorado Progressive Coalition held a protest during lunchtime in Greeley and sent volunteers to vote centers later in the afternoon to help voters.

Weld County Clerk and Recorder Steve Moreno said his office received no complaints from voters. He said he had translators at 10 of his 34 vote centers.

kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2361 Staff writers Tillie Fong and Alan Gathright contributed to this report.

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