Denver Election Commission officials said Wednesday that they hope to fix the problems with this week’s primary election by creating a committee of election judges.
“That way they can have their own focus group and discuss what worked, what didn’t work and what things they think they need to be better trained on,” commission spokesman Alton Dillard said. “But this really just looked like a case of technological lockjaw happened when we went live yesterday.”
On Tuesday, the commission again came under scrutiny when judges at some vote centers had problems getting new election voting machines to work. There also was a pattern of voters reporting they received the wrong ballot.
Some judges blamed the training process for their problems. Dillard said the new system puts more expectations on the judges.
“We just have to be honest here,” he said. “We are talking a brand new way of voting, and it is going to require a judge that is both customer service-oriented and electronically savvy.”
The commission also was criticized Wednesday for being one of the last counties reporting results on election night. Dillard said the votes were counted as quickly as possible.
“People have to understand, even in the vote center model, we are still tabulating the same number of machines,” Dillard said. “So, that’s not going to happen any faster.”
Meanwhile Wednesday, City Auditor Dennis Gallagher sent a letter asking Denver officials to again consider revamping the structure of the Election Commission by creating an elected clerk and recorder.
Councilwoman Marcia Johnson convened a task force in July to look at that possibility after Election Commission officials announced they lost the personal records of thousands of voters, but the task force recommended against making structural changes.
“In light of what occurred on Tuesday,” Gallagher wrote in his letter to Johnson, “I think there may need to be a re-evaluation of the situation. More sweeping changes may be necessary.”
Johnson could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
City Council members are expected to discuss the task force report in the next few weeks as the deadline for putting any proposed changes on the November ballot is the end of the month.
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 303-820-1657 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
