DENVER—Colorado Secretary of State Bernie Buescher has ordered county clerks to comply with demands from the federal government after Colorado was denied a waiver to exempt the state from a federal requirement to mail ballots to military service members overseas 45 days before the November election.
Buescher said he asked for the delay to ensure accuracy, but he told county clerks to comply to the best of their ability with the new deadline.
Buescher also said he is working on new technology to send secure ballots overseas.
“Though not an ideal scenario, we’ll make every effort to ensure that an actual ballot is also sent as soon as practicable and continue to take advantage of electronic transmission options,” Buescher said.
Spokesman Rich Coolidge said if the state did not meet the deadline, some soldiers in remote battlefields might not have enough time to return them even though the state will give them an extra seven days after the election.
They can also e-mail or fax them.
Coolidge blamed primaries and deadlines for ballot initiatives for not being able to meet the deadline.
“Our timelines are very tight with the caucus and the petition process,” Coolidge said.
State Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, a colonel in the Army Reserve who served in Iraq, said he knows firsthand what it’s like to vote from the battlefield.
In 2003, while serving in Baghdad, the Army lost his ballot and he was denied the right to vote. In 2009, on his return to Baghdad, he was forced to vote by e-mail, which he said jeopardized the security of the voting process. He said the only thing for the state to do now is to comply.
“Now that we’ve been denied, we have to do the best we can and get service members their ballots. We can follow up with a full ballot later. Next year, we have to adjust the election calendar. I can forgive the secretary of state this year because the election calendar had already started when the ruling came down, but next year, both parties have to change,” he said.
State Rep. Scott Tipton, a Republican from Cortez who protested the waiver request, said mailing out a partial ballot in time is better than no ballot at all.
“We need to make the best of a bad situation,” he said.
Under a new federal law President Barack Obama signed in October, states without a waiver must deliver ballots to soldiers 45 days before the general election so they have enough time to vote. The only exemptions allowed include a late primary election, a legal challenge or a state constitution ban, and Colorado’s excuse didn’t qualify.
Colorado’s Aug. 10 primary left 84 days to comply. However, under Colorado law, election officials can wait until 32 days before the election to deliver ballots to election offices.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General Ronald Weich told lawmakers there are exceptions for “undue hardships” that would be considered on a case-by-case basis, but Colorado failed the test.
Weich said the department is prepared to file a lawsuit against states not in compliance.
The Pentagon said waivers had been granted for Delaware, Washington, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
Only four states were denied—Wisconsin, Hawaii, Alaska and Colorado, along with Washington, D.C., and Virgin Islands.
The Military Postal Service Agency urges military voters in Iraq and Afghanistan to send ballots back at least 28 days before an election, and voters at other overseas military installations at least 21 days in advance.
Buescher warned last year that he probably wouldn’t make the deadline, but state lawmakers said they needed more time.
Coolidge said Buescher is working with the Secretary’s Best Practices and Vision Commission to revise the state’s election calendar next year. Lawmakers said that may involve moving back the August primary election and compressing the election calendar to avoid holding caucuses during the December holiday season.
