Winners in next week’s political races may have to keep the champagne on ice longer than they might expect as election officials across the Front Range forecast slow going on election night.
“We’re already letting parties, candidates and other interested parties know that returns are going to be coming in very slow,” said Alton Dillard, spokesman for the Denver Election Commission.
The longest Colorado ballot in a century, new and unfamiliar voting machines in many counties, tight races and a glut of yet-to-be-returned absentee ballots create a looming hassle for county clerks along the Front Range.
“It could turn into a nightmare,” said Larimer County election chief Scott Doyle.
Voters across the state will be using 8,000 new voting computers with cumbersome court-ordered security measures, which, clerks say, pose a risk of glitches and other unknown perils that could delay vote-counting or bring it to a standstill.
Preparing for the worst, election officials are urging voters to take advantage of early voting and, especially, to return absentee ballots as soon as possible.
Absentee ballots can be counted up to 10 days in advance, though such initial results can’t be announced until after voting is complete on Election Day.
Clerks say a long ballot will only magnify the challenge of counting a large number of absentee votes arriving on Tuesday.
“If that happens in a lot of counties statewide, things could get very interesting,” said Douglas County Clerk and Recorder Carole Murray.
Denver is ramping up its efforts to avoid a Wednesday finale, but Dillard said there are no guarantees, particularly if there’s a late rush of absentee ballots.
“If we get to midnight and have 3,000 votes to process, then tally ho,” he said of pressing on to completion. “But if we find ourselves with another 18,000 at midnight, then it’s going to be awhile; there’s only so much we can ask of our election workers.”
Denver had 70,102 absentee requests, but only 21,245 that had been returned as of Tuesday afternoon. Two years ago, 66,190 voters cast absentee ballots.
El Paso County had collected 20,306 absentees of 62,331 requested as of Tuesday.
In Boulder County, results in 2004 were delayed for three days after the election because of a lawsuit, a printing error and other glitches that forced a hand count of 13,000 ballots.
This year, Boulder County is prepared to avoid another slow finish, said Carrie Haverfield, voter education specialist for the county. “At this point, we don’t have any major concerns.”
Murray, however, is practically begging Douglas County absentee voters to send their ballots early. “These long ballots take a long time to get through,” she said.
About 11,000 of the 32,500 requested absentee ballots in Douglas County had been returned as of Tuesday.
Murray recalls the fall election of 2004, when the Douglas County ballot had six statewide questions and one local ballot measure. During the final two days, 18,000 of 30,000 absentee ballots arrived, clogging the counting process.
Election workers counted votes until 2 a.m. after the polls closed, went home and finished the next day. This election, Doug las County voters have 14 statewide ballot initiatives and four local questions, which has Murray worrying about a very long night of vote counting across Colorado.
“It may be Wednesday before a lot of statewide issues are settled,” she said.
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-820-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
