Fort Collins – Leaders from state governments and a prestigious university will be observing Larimer County’s vote centers today to decide if the idea of consolidating precincts for every election could be exported out of Colorado.
At least 18 representatives will be studying the county’s vote center system when people start going to the polls today, said Clerk and Recorder Scott Doyle. The four states represented are Florida, Illinois, Indiana and North Dakota.
The largest delegation will be headed by Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita, and include Indiana state legislators and election officials.
Also observing will be Robert Stein, dean of the School of Social Sciences at Rice University in Houston, who has studied the vote center idea since Larimer County introduced it in 2003.
“We welcome this opportunity to showcase Larimer County and are looking forward to sharing information with our visitors,” said Doyle, who will take the contingent to three vote centers and then answer questions at the county court complex.
Larimer decided to do away with its 143 precincts and merge them into 30 vote centers as a cost-cutting move. It was the first county in the nation to turn solely to vote centers for early voting and for Election Day 2003, according to state and national voting officials.
Under the system, anyone can vote at a vote center – which is usually located in a high-traffic area – as long as the person has proper identification and has registered to vote.
The move also has boosted voter turnout, Stein said.
Three other counties will use vote centers today – Adams, Weld and Otero.
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@ denverpost.com.
