According to District Judge Martin Gonzales, Saguache County Clerk Melinda Myers must allow Secretary of State Scott Gessler to have access to Saguache County’s voted ballots from the November 2010 election. 31. He plans to recount them the end of August. As promised prior to the hearing,
Myers has agreed to follow the Judge’s ruling and turn over ballots. But even as the Clerk and Commissioners sought clarity on the ballot issue, a group of citizens calling themselves the Committee to Recall Melinda Myers as County Clerk and Recorder continue to gather signatures on a recall petition. They hope to put the recall on the ballot in a special election, probably after the November 2011 regular election.
The controversy over the County Clerk stems from the November 2010 vote count, where a discrepancy was found between the first vote count, which was made on election night, and another vote count done on November 5.
Following the initial count made on election night, the Clerk’s office noticed a discrepancy in the numbers of votes from District 5 (Crestone/Baca). The Secretary of State’s office was brought in to advise the County and a “retabulation” was done which found 197 votes from District 5 had not been 1counted in the first round be cause the software used to count the votes had counted mail-in votes twice and left out the polling place votes.
The missing 197 votes cast by District 5 voters was enough to change the outcome of the election. As a result of the retabulation, Myers retained her seat as Clerk, and Linda Joseph retained her seat as Commissioner. A total of four counts were done on the ballots, all using the M650 ballot counting machine, with the same results being found on the last three “retabulations”.
However, a number of citizens continue to believe that mistakes were made in the count, and, along with Marilyn Marks, an Aspen resident who has taken a strong interest in Saguache County’s election, urged Secretary Gessler to bring a suit to force a public recount, preferably a hand count, of the ballots.
As a result of the judge’s decision, Secretary of State Gessler’s office will come to Saguache to count the votes on August 29 through 31. The results of this count will be posted on the this site when they become available.
Full Article: Judge rules Sec. of State has access to election ballots; recall of Saguache County Clerk initiated – Crestone Eagle.