The litany of bureaucratic denials is maddening. Among reasons the Denver Election Commission gave for the city’s Election Day problems were: The power went out. The ballot was very long. Elections workers didn’t understand the computer check-in system. The system was over-loaded.
No one has been willing to own up to the fiasco, and it has fueled an understandable public sentiment that heads must roll.
While that might satisfy the thrill of revenge, it fails to take into account what should be the highest priority. There are votes that still must be counted, and the election must then be certified.
After that job is complete the city must conduct a thorough investigation into what went wrong and how to fix it. Were vote centers at the center of the mess, or coincidental? A firm grasp of the problems is where the path to an effective solution begins.
Mayor John Hickenlooper is creating an investigatory panel to look into the debacle.We’re glad he’s taken ownership of the mess, because the commission must be the focus of the study, not the source of it.
On Election Day, Hickenlooper visited many vote centers, doing what he could to cheer voters who waited in line for hours. He’s vented his anger freely enough and makes no effort to underestimate the harm done to the city’s election operations. “We have risked voters’ faith,” he told us.
Perhaps he senses the mistake he made in 2005 when several City Council members were pressing a proposal for elections reform. Then-Council President Rosemary Rodriguez crafted one plan, but it got short shrift at city hall, where the mayor was worried about the laws of unintended consequences as regards some unrelated responsibilities. Instead, officials sought to upgrade the skills at the commission and to monitor its progress, to no avail.
The structure of the commission, which includes Wayne Vaden, appointed by the mayor, and elected commissioners Sandy Adams and Susan Rogers is not effective. Long before Tuesday, when many voters were delayed by a balky check-in system, there were warning signs.
The commission once lost voting records containing personal information for 150,000 voters. In 2004, 13,000 absentee ballots were mailed late. The following year the voter guide was incomplete. Morale problems have abounded. And there were budget overruns in at least two recent years.
Unfortunately, it took a disaster to kick-start an analysis of the commission structure. Voters who suffered long waits deserve a thoughtful – and a credible -solution.
