Ballot bedlam: Judge refuses to extend voting hours

Judge refuses to extend voting hours

Felix Doligosa and Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 7, 2006 at midnight

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A Denver district court judge denied the Democrats’ request to extend voting hours due to problems in Denver that are causing delays and turned-away voters.

Judge Sheila Rappaport said she did not have authority to grant the extension.

The judge said this is a problem for the Legislature, not the courts and there is no right to segregate Denver from other counties, which are also having problems.

Voters at many of the city’s new 55 voting centers have been encountering long lines, computer problems and an inadequate number of computers to check proof of voter registration.

Richard Westfall, attorney for the Colorado Republican Party said, "The statute is clear. If you come to the polls at 7 p.m. and wait you will be able to vote."

He said he did not feel that this is a big ruling because "we all are playing by the same rules."

David Fine, attorney for the Colorado Democratic Party, said he is concerned if any voters are not able to vote.

This is the first general election in which the city has used voting centers, instead of traditional precincts.

At about 2 p.m., election officials sent 30 more laptop computers to some of the most heavily used polling centers. The sites included Washington Park, Cherry Creek Community Church, Corona Presbyterian, Botanic Garden, Cook Park, Tattered Cover, New Hope Baptist Church, the Wellington Webb Building, Harvard Gulch and Calvary Baptist Church.

By 3 p.m., election officials had sworn in 85 to 100 new election judges; some city employees, others, private citizens. Those with election experience were working polling machines. Those who had no experience were asked to greet voters and hand out sample ballots.

Alton Dillard, communications director for the Denver Election Commission, acknowledged there has been "a slowness issue."

"With 55 vote centers, we have probably more than 220-230 laptops in circulation. So that’s what caused the delay. What happens, anytime you have any issue . . . whether it’s a power issue or whether it’s a slowness issue, our judges are trained to pick up the telephone and call up to central registration and that’s how you confirm the voter’s eligibility. So it does take a little longer to do it by phone."

In years past, precincts had printed lists to check if the computers failed. But because the vote centers can accommodate voters who live in any part of Denver, the lists would be simply too long to print out this year, Dillard said.

Denver election officials rebooted the whole computer system shortly after 1 p.m. in hopes of keeping the servers from crashing throughout the afternoon.

Several Denver polling places — Park Hilll, Glenarm Recreation Center, Manual High School, Tivoli Center, Westerly Creek and Corona Presbyterian – were having problems with provisional ballots.

"It's going to get worse. We're worried about the 5 o'clock rush hour," said Meghan Doughtery, spokesperson for Fair Vote Colorado, a nonpartisan organization which monitors elections in the state.

Voter Ron Allen said it took him about an hour to vote at the Webb building downtown.

"It was convenient. It was next to work," he said. "(But) for people that can’t afford to be in line, it was a lot of time."

The biggest logjam, he said, was at the registration tables, because there were not enough workers to check identification cards.

"The hassle was in the middle, not at the (voting) machines."

Joey Gallegos said it took her an hour and 40 minutes to vote.

"I thought it was a long wait for such a short vote, but my vote was the most important thing," she said.

Even the candidates weren’t immune from frustrations this morning. Bill Ritter, the Democratic contender for governor, had to wait about an hour and 45 minutes before he could cast his ballot at the Washington Park voting center.

Some centers were running more smoothly. FairVote Colorado is reporting there are short lines at Montbello Recreation Center, New Covenant Church, the Rude Recreation Center and Westerly Creek – Stapleton. The organization has a real-time list of what’s happening at polling places on its Web site at http://www.fairvotecolorado.org/

Because of the switch to voting centers, Denver voters can cast a ballot at any city center.

That’s been a mixed blessing for some.

Laura Warren said she was shuffled from center to center. First, she went to Botanical Gardens. Then she went to the Webb building. She finally used an absentee ballot to vote.

"There was a problem with the computers. It was taking 50 to 60 minutes at the least. This is the second vote center that I’ve tried," Warren said, as she waited outside the Webb building.

"Denver and the mayor haven’t gone out of their way to make sure that Denver citizens can vote. It’s very appalling. The idea that the biggest city in Colorado might have the worst situation voting-wise is very scary," Warren said.

Dillard anticipates voting to be heavy all day but said he hopes many of the problems will be ironed out by the afternoon.

"We got the morning rush and it took a while for us to digest that, and because of the 60-65 percent turnout, we expect it to be heavy all day. We are asking for patience from the voters, from the parties and candidates when it comes to getting all this tallied up tonight," he said.

"With this being our first general, we’ll take a look at what needs to be tweaked. We’ll look at what we need to do to make changes.’’

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