Aurora – Problems with absentee ballots helped kill a sales tax election last week and got an election official in trouble with the law.
Sharon Works, the designated election official for the Aurora Mental Health Tax vote, on Friday was given a misdemeanor summons that alleges she failed at her job.
The summons was one more blow for a campaign that sought to raise sales taxes 0.20 percent to pay for mental health services. On Thursday, officials canceled the election that opponents called a stealth campaign to raise taxes.
Political analyst Bob Loevy said that in his 38 years in Colorado he cannot recall a big-city election being canceled.
“This is kind of an unprecedented event,” he said.
Colorado law says a list should be kept of everyone who requested an absentee ballot and when the ballots were mailed out.
Works, 62, faces a maximum penalty of probation, a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. She didn’t return calls Friday.
Paul Tauer, former Aurora mayor who led the opposition to the vote, said the episode was a shame.
“I know she screwed up,” he said. “I don’t know that it was intentional. I just think it’s unfortunate that this whole thing has come to this.”
A complainant, Ellen Thomas, 69, of Aurora, said she never received an absentee ballot that she requested on April 19. She needed one because she is scheduled for jury duty.
Thomas asked twice for the ballot and Thursday received an envelope in the mail that said it contained a ballot, but it didn’t. She contacted the district attorney.
“It makes me very angry because I wanted to vote,” Thomas said. “There are five of my neighbors who requested absentee ballots and not a one of us got it. I realize a mistake can happen, but she really must have gotten over her head.”
Works on Thursday said the election “was truly overwhelming.”
She received 4,000 requests for absentee ballots. At midnight Wednesday, Works missed a deadline to mail the last several hundred. Opponents say they didn’t know absentee ballots would be such a problem.
“We did push the absentee ballots,” Tauer said. “It wasn’t something that was devious. We were trying to get people a way to find a way to vote.”
The tax increase – about a penny on a $5 purchase – sought to raise $6.4 million a year over 10 years. It would have given Aurora one of the highest sales taxes in the metro area.
The money would have been used to set up a court for cases involving the mentally ill, train police on handling troubled offenders and help schools deal with mental health issues.
Opponents claimed the election was set in May so fewer people would vote. They were angry that four of six polling places were mental health facilities.
Lynne Cottrell, the Arapahoe County Republican Party’s immediate past chairman, opposed the election and worked with a group to defeat it.
The group last week was certifying poll watchers. Opponents sent Works a certified letter asking about the election – how provisional ballots would be handled, how the ballots would be counted and when the ballot boxes would be opened. The group hadn’t received a response as of Thursday.
“We were in total darkness about the election,” Cottrell said. “If they had won, we were going to file an injunction because we have so much proof of impropriety.”
Aurora City Councilwoman Molly Markert, who voted in January with the majority of council to allow the election, said it was a botched campaign.
“They had no idea how complicated an election is,” she said. “Elections are sacred. This country stands for respecting that. When you botch that, even if you are naive, understaffed or underfunded, it’s going to trigger people’s animosities, big time. … They were just overwhelmed.”
Staff writer Jeremy P. Meyer may be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
