December 22, 2007 10:25 PM UTC

County Clerks Want All-Mail Elections in '08

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• by: Colorado Pols

From the Rocky Mountain News:

County clerks told legislators Friday to draft legislation making 2008 an all mail-in election, even though the secretary of state is resisting the idea.

Four county clerks were at a legislative committee meeting and said that 70 percent of all county clerks want voters to cast their ballots by mail in the 2008 election, when voters will be choosing a new U.S. senator and president.

The plea capped a week of turmoil touched off when Secretary of State Mike Coffman decertified the electronic voting and vote-counting machines used by most of the counties in the state. The decision alarmed county clerks, who are wondering just exactly how they will be able to put on an election.

Clerks say they don’t have the money to replace the equipment, and they doubt they have the time to train workers to use it if they did.

“We currently have no options to conduct an election as things stand right now,” Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Pam Anderson bluntly told the Joint Budget Committee that met Friday to discuss the matter.

And, according to the Grand Junction Sentinel, a Mesa County commissioner said she would risk having results thrown out and a lawsuit by Coffman rather than replace the county’s electronic voting machines.

“How does he (Coffman) think people are to hold elections?” Commissioner Janet Rowland said during a meeting. “If (Coffman) wants to sue us, he can sue us.”…

…But Coffman said he believes that an all mail-in election could result in votes being coerced: “It would be great that the person makes a decision on their own about how they cast their ballot. Do they want to cast in the privacy of a voting booth or do they want to cast it at a dining room table with their spouse looking over their shoulder?”

Stephanie O’Malley, county clerk and recorder for Denver, also had concerns about a mandatory all mail-in ballot.

O’Malley, who attended the committee hearing, said that state law requires clerks to classify voters inactive if they don’t vote in a major election. O’Malley said that would mean as many as 150,000 registered voters may not receive a ballot next year unless a special request is made.

Given that Coffman has completely bungled this process, and considering that O’Malley has been woefully inept at fixing Denver’s voting problems, we’re inclined to side with the County Clerks on this one. Coffman’s credibility on this issue is pretty much shot.