The Colorado County Clerks Association called Friday for granting clerks a one-time exemption to hold all-mail-in-ballot elections in 2008.
The voting-machine issue started Monday, when Secretary of State Mike Coffman announced he had “decertified” many of the electronic voting machines used in the state, leaving 53 counties without at least some of their voting machines.
“We need to find a quick, inexpensive solution,” said Douglas County Clerk Jack Arrowsmith. “And we can’t spend a lot of time deciding where we’re going.”
Skeptics say mail-in ballots alone won’t solve the problems facing Colorado’s election system. “I think people ought to have choices in how they cast their ballot,” Coffman said.
Sen. Ken Gordon, a Denver Democrat and co-chairman of a state voting-machine task force, said voters would probably put greater trust in paper ballots, though he hasn’t decided whether mail-in ballots are the sole way to go.
