November 23, 2009 07:04 PM UTC

Who Says Every Vote Doesn't Count?

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• by: Colorado Pols

Boulder County DA Stan Garnett, if he ever did, will never say so again–the Daily Camera reports:

Boulder County voters narrowly approved a ballot measure that extends the term limits for the district attorney from two terms to three, a recount has confirmed.

The recount found that five votes — four “yes” votes and one “no” vote — should not have been counted originally because the ballots were either undervotes or overvotes.

In some cases, the voter rested his or her pencil by one of the choices — making a mark that was picked up by scanners — but hadn’t actually voted. In other cases, the voter had made a mark between the two choices that strayed into one box or the other, or both.

That left the final tally at 29,966 votes in favor of the measure and 29,957 votes against the measure, a difference of just nine votes…

Proponents of the 2009 measure argued that the public benefits from having an experienced DA and should be able to return a prosecutor to office if he or she is doing a good job. Opponents said DAs are among the most powerful elected officials, and they need to be checked.

“They’re politicians, and they want to get in office and stay there for as long as possible,” said Dennis Polhill, chairman of the Colorado Term Limits Coalition, which put forward the statewide term limits amendment.