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Lawmakers move ahead with paper ballots; scanners still in limbo
DENVER (AP) — Legislative leaders said Tuesday they’re moving ahead with a proposal to conduct this year’s elections mainly by paper ballot even though most counties still don’t know whether they’ll be able to use their optical scanners to count the ballots.
The bill assumes that most of the scanners will be recertified by the secretary of state but still would set aside $3.5 million to reimburse counties who want to buy more scanners so they can count ballots more quickly, Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, said. The price tag could rise if some of the scanners aren’t approved for use in this year’s primary and general election.
Plans for Colorado’s elections were thrown into confusion in December when Secretary of State Mike Coffman decertified most of the state’s electronic voting machines because of security and accuracy concerns.
Since then, lawmakers gave him permission to retest different fixes for the machines. He has recertified three kinds of touch-screen voting machines, which records votes, but is still considering what to do about two brands of optical scanners, which are used to count paper ballots.
Because of questions over the accuracy of the machines, lawmakers said switching to a mostly paper ballot election was the best way to ensure that everyone’s vote would be counted since the paper ballots would be available for recounts. However, they acknowledged that taking the low-tech approach could delay election results, which they said was less important than ensuring confidence in the process.
“Our job isn’t to make sure that by 7:15 everyone in Colorado knows who won,” House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder said.
Lawmakers said voters could help speed up the process by voting early or by mail, which would leave fewer ballots to count on Election Day. Federal law still requires that an electronic voting machine be provided at each polling place for any disabled voter and anyone else who wants them. The bill would require all voters be given a paper ballot at a polling place unless they ask to use an electronic machine.
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