City: If the privacy sleeve doesn't fit, fold or tear it

While city officials sought to quell concerns about the April mail-in ballot, county leaders vowed Tuesday to make voting in the November election more secure.

The issue: the April 5th municipal ballot, which most voters should have received in the mail in recent days, contains a “secrecy sleeve.” The sleeve, in which ballots are to be placed before mailing back, doubles as the instructions.

One problem is some voters didn’t realize they were supposed to use the sleeve and threw it away. Another is that some found it was too big to fit into the return envelope unless it’s torn open or folded at the bottom.

Some county commissioners asserted at their biweekly meeting Tuesday that no matter what’s done with the privacy sleeve it doesn’t make voting very secret.

Colorado Springs City Clerk Kathryn Young denied there are any “problems associated with the ballots,” although she conceded that some voters are confused by the design, which was produced by a contractor.

“If there is difficulty inserting the ballot and sleeve into the return envelope, voters can tear open the bottom portion or fold the bottom portion, insert the ballot and put it into the return envelope, sign the envelope and either mail the ballot or return it to one of the drop-off locations,” she wrote Tuesday in an e-mail.

Colorado Springs City Councilman Bernie Herpin wrote on Facebook Tuesday that the reported problems are “minor” and “easily solved” by opening the secrecy sleeve. 

If voters are uncomfortable tearing the secrecy sleeve, Young said, they can turn the ballot inside out toward the blank side to conceal their vote and insert it into the return envelope. Young offered that recommendation even though the instructions that voters received state that a ballot must be refolded “exactly” as it was received.

Ballots returned without secrecy sleeves still will be counted, she added.

But county commissioners Amy Lathen and Peggy Littleton said the ballot is not private because the voter’s signature is visible on the outer envelope, and the sleeve is unsealed within the envelope. 

“I have a real problem with that,” Lathen said. “It’s not a secret ballot. I don’t think it’s the way voters would like to have this election run.”

Even when she dropped her ballot into the box at the city clerk’s office on Tuesday, Littleton said her name was still visible on the envelope.

“At some point, someone verifies your signature, opens the envelope and takes out your ballot. So there’s no secrecy,” she said.

Lathen, commission chair, said she will advocate for an inner envelope that can be sealed for mail-in ballots for the Nov. 1 county-coordinated election. 

Staff reporter Daniel J. Chacon contributed to this report.