It’s naive to think the city could run a special election next month to reform Denver’s troubled Election Commission, an expert on Mayor John Hickenlooper’s investigative task force said Tuesday.
“One month to put together an election is clearly, clearly out of touch with reality in today’s election world,” Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Scott Doyle said of a proposal Monday from a City Council committee.
The recommendation is just one of several that Denver officials will get from several sources over the next few days.
Tonight, a panel appointed by Hickenlooper in the wake of November’s problem-plagued election is expected to come up with its recommendations.
Doyle is one of 12 members likely to suggest how and where Denver citizens vote in the future – by mail or in person, at vote centers or in traditional neighborhood precincts.
The group also is considering who should direct the city’s elections – a single clerk and recorder, the current three-member Election Commission or something in-between.
On Thursday, a Denver City Council committee will vote on whether to recommend a special Jan. 30 vote to put election oversight under a single, elected clerk and recorder.
The mayor’s panel and the City Council effort came in response to Denver’s November election, when many voters stood in line for three hours and an estimated 20,000 people didn’t vote because of delays.
Last week, Hickenlooper’s panel members favored an all-mail election for May, which would give officials time to fix technical problems before an in-person election in November. The group deferred discussion of changes to the Election Commission and clerk structure until today.
In related news, state Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver, called for the formation of a Senate committee on Colorado Elections to convene in the upcoming legislative session to set standards.
Four proposals being considered
Mayor John Hickenlooper’s investigative panel on the Nov. 7 election is expected to make recommendations today on the future of the Denver Election Commission. In the meantime, city officials have been considering four proposals that could be put to voters as early as Jan. 30:
Current structure: Two elected, part-time commissioners and a full-time clerk and recorder appointed by the mayor who also serves as a third commissioner.
The knock: Council members have complained that the three-member panel dilutes responsibility.
The Rodriguez proposal: Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez has proposed putting Denver elections under a single elected clerk and recorder – similar to most other counties in the state. Assuming there is not a special election in January, residents would vote on her proposal in May, and if it passed, a clerk and recorder would be elected in November.
The knock: A new clerk and recorder would not take office until Jan. 1, 2008, leaving 10 months to prepare for the presidential election that year.
The Gallagher proposal: Auditor Dennis Gallagher also is proposing an elected clerk and recorder. The major difference is that under his plan, voters would decide the charter change in May, when the two election commissioners are up for election. If it passed, the candidate with the most votes would become clerk and recorder.
The knock: Candidates would be placed in an awkward position. If the charter change passed, the winner’s job would change from part time to full time.
The Johnson proposal: Councilwoman Marcia Johnson’s plan would keep the clerk and recorder as a mayoral appointment overseeing titles and records, but it would move elections to under a single elected official working full time on elections.
The knock: The plan would keep the potential election staff relatively small, without the benefit and redundancy of additional staff.
The Robb proposal: Councilwoman Jeanne Robb’s plan would work as a piece of either the current system or a clerk and recorder plan. She proposed giving the City Council and the mayor authority to approve the appointment of the director of elections.
The knock: Giving the mayor and council veto power over the head of elections could undermine the authority of whoever is elected to oversee that position.
(Colorado Common Cause’s Jenny Rose Flanagan has proposed an advisory committee to work in conjunction will all of the proposals. The committee would hold monthly meetings for public comment and make recommendations to the governing officials.)
