Group worries paper ballots will run out

A government watchdog group questions whether El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink has printed enough ballots for Election Day.

But election officials say they're prepared for a record turnout with ample paper ballots, considering roughly 175,000 people are expected to vote early or by mail.

El Paso County has 374,070 registered voters. Balink has ordered 170,895 paper ballots for Election Day, or about 46 percent of the voter count.

Denver-based Ethics Watch, a nonprofit that monitors government, is concerned that polling places will run out of ballots, and voters might be discouraged from voting as they wait for ballots to be printed and delivered to the polling places.

"That's a gamble," said Luis Toro, senior council for Ethics Watch. "It's better to have too many than not enough."

It wouldn't be the first time ballots ran short. In November 2005, Balink publicly apologized after he underestimated the number of ballots that would be needed; election staff had been overwhelmed on Election Day as voters poured into polling places and dozens of precincts reported running out of ballots.

Toro claimed that other big counties, such as Denver, Boulder and Pueblo, are printing ballots for a higher percentage of its voters than El Paso County, but that's apparently only partly true.

Pueblo County has printed enough ballots for Election Day to cover its 102,000 registered voters, Pueblo County officials said.

But that's not the case for Denver and Boulder counties. Both will take into account early voting and mail ballots before deciding how many ballots to print, election officials with those counties said.

"We all have heard reports that we're expecting record high turnout," Ethics Watch's Chantell Taylor, an attorney, said.

Although Balink has said more ballots can be printed on Election Day if needed, Taylor said Ethics Watch is concerned that voters would be discouraged from voting because of the wait.

Election manager Liz Olson disputed that the county isn't prepared.

"I will tell you we are taking a lot of precautions with our ballot stock on Election Day," she said. "Our clerk and recorder staff will be calling in the number of issued ballots every hour in each precinct.

"We will be monitoring our inventory closely on Election Day. If we see a trend of a lot of voters showing up and it's different than we expected, then we'll take action," she added. "We're not going to wait for them to call us when they've issued their last ballot.

We have the ability and the law allows us to print ballots on demand."

On Election Day, voters will find one touch-screen voting machine at each of the 187 polling places.

"You can't run out of ballots when you have a touch screen," she said. Although some voters might prefer a paper ballot, having a touch screen on hand means everyone will have a chance to vote, she said.

Olson said her office has issued more than 150,000 mail ballots, and as of Friday, 57,399 had been cast. Early voting drew 15,550 voters through Saturday, slightly more than expected, she said.

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Contact the writer: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazette.com


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Voting information

To have a mail ballot sent to you, your application must be received by 5 p.m. today. You have until 5 p.m. Friday to complete the application and pick up a mail ballot in person at the Election Department at Centennial Hall downtown.

Early voting sites are open through Friday:

Centennial Hall, 200 S. Cascade Ave., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Chapel Hills Mall, Suite 179, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Citadel mall, Suite 3124, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.