MONTROSE, Colo.-
State officials accused Montrose County election officials of “flagrant violations” of security procedures in the November election but said there was no evidence of fraud or criminal misconduct.
A 21-page report by the secretary of state’s office made available Monday cited errors in the way voting machines were programmed, and failure to secure voting equipment and election records.
Also, a security plan that was to have been submitted in October was submitted this month, said Jonathan Tee, spokesman for Secretary of State Mike Coffman.
“We have some genuine concerns here with their security and the lack of organization within the office,” he said.
The report said a potential for fraud existed and recommended prompt changes in staffing, security, training and document organization.
It also said too much authority was centralized in the job of election supervisor Debbie Rudy, making it nearly “impossible” to retrieve documents in her absence.
County Clerk Fran Long, elected in November, said staff responsibilities have been reorganized, and employees have been cross-trained so there is not just one source of knowledge.
In November, a large number of voters were forced to wait up to three hours to vote at two polling centers because of problems with electronic voting machines.
The report found other issues. It named five discrepancies with the election, such as the total number of signature cards filled out by voters being 800 short of the total votes cast.
“Flagrant violations” of required security procedures included signature cards that didn’t match poll books, mislabeling of election results, voting machine tapes left unsealed and indiscriminate handling of voter signature cards, some of which were stacked in piles with no tracking information, the report said.
John Gardner, a voting specialist with the state, reported that Rudy was disorganized.
“It appeared to Mr. Gardner that due to Ms. Rudy’s disorganization she often forgot what items representatives had requested from her, even though she had been provided both a handwritten and typed checklist of requested items,” the report said.
Rudy said Monday that she hadn’t seen the report and questioned why attention was focused on her.
“I don’t know why they’re laying it on me and not the (former) county clerk,” Rudy said. “I’ll leave it to the new county clerk to comment.”
Former County Clerk Carol Kruse could not be reached by phone for comment Tuesday.
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