The recall of Saguache County Clerk Melinda Myers offers some lessons about transparency and the good sense of voters. Myers, who oversaw a messy election in which she prevailed over a challenger, was booted out of office this week with a resounding 68 percent of the vote. We suspect voters were dismayed not only by the controversial outcome in the 2010 election, in which results were reversed days after the polls closed, but by the clerk’s fight to keep ballots secret. We supported a public recount of the ballots in an effort to build public trust in the process. And we think county clerks, who are pushing for legislative action this session to restrict public access to voted ballots after elections, ought to take note of the Saguache recall. Voters may not be as keen on their efforts as they think.
… The value of transparency is certainly worth the effort. If the public is able to double-check the work of clerks in tabulating elections, it should add to the public confidence in the process. That’s assuming the clerks are accurately tallying elections, and we have no reason to assume otherwise. The bill the clerks are hoping to get passed has yet to be introduced in the legislature, so we’ll withhold comment on it until we see it. Donetta Davidson, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, said the bill is being drafted.
Full Article: Editorial: In Saguache, a vote for voters – The Denver Post.