Sunday’s story about whether next year’s primary should be an all mail-in ballot or traditional polling place format generated several interesting comments, including this from Neil Talbott: “A mail-in ballot is perfectly acceptable, especially if it saves the county $71,000 in election costs, IF you can assure citizens that the vote count is accurate and verifiable.”
El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Wayne Williams ran on a platform of “protecting voter integrity” last fall when he was running for the office, so we’ll wait for his reply to a letter Talbott sent, asking what assurance the public has that the mail-in ballots are counted accurately, verification of ballot counts and other protective measures.
Several Colorado counties, including nearby Teller County, had problems with voter registration fraud in 2004 — 18 of the state’s 64 counties had registration rates greater than their voting-age populations, for example, which created exaggerated voter rolls.
Some readers also asked for a breakdown of the estimated costs of next June’s primary election. Here they are, from the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Office:
Mail Ballot: Ballot printing, mailing, postage: $295,560
Polling Place: $234,862
Mail Ballot: Election Judges/Personnel: $120,730
Polling Place: $376,600
Mail Ballot: Three Ballot-on-Demand Printers: $61,500
Polling Place: $0.00
Mail Ballot: Judges’ Materials: $0.00
Polling Place: $22,650
Mail Ballot: Election Printing and Supplies: $4,500
Polling Place: $31,700
Mail Ballot: Info cards mailed to unaffiliated voters: $69,520
Polling Place: $0.00
Mail Ballot: Other: $41,620
Polling Place: $7,700
TOTAL: Mail Ballot: $593,430
Polling Place: $664,512