Denver District Judge Robert McGahey has ruled there will be no mail ballots in the Sept. 10 recall election because the state constitution requires that alternative candidates should have until 15 days before the election to qualify for the ballot. The ruling overrides the provisions of a new election law passed this year calling for mail ballots in all elections, but McGahey said the Constitution is blunt in saying candidates may petition onto the ballot until 15 days before the election. The judge’s decision means Pueblo County Clerk Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz will have to withhold the mail ballots he’s already prepared for the recall election for state Sen. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo.
How Ortiz will run the special election was uncertain Monday night because alternate candidates would have until Aug. 26 to petition onto the ballot and possibly longer if the Secretary of State’s office takes days to verify signatures.
“I may not even know which candidates are on the ballot by Aug. 26,” Ortiz said after McGahey’s ruling. “I know I’ll be tossing out 100,000 or so ballot envelopes that have ‘recall election’ already printed on them.”
A spokesman for Giron’s re-election committee said they would prepare for a polling place election.
“We’ll be ready either way,” said Jennie Peek-Dunstone.
Full Article: The Pueblo Chieftain | Sept. 10 election to go on.
The Voting News
A News Service of the Verified Voting Foundation
