While Gilda Yazzie easily won a seat on Durango City Council, the race between Dave Woodruff and Harrison Wendt won’t be decided until at least April 12 and possibly later if a recount is required.

Woodruff, who ran on his business accolades, had a six-vote lead over Wendt, who vowed to be a voice for working-class and underrepresented residents.

Wendt won 2,399 votes compared with Woodruff’s 2,405 votes, a 0.25% difference. In Colorado, races within 0.5% go to an automatic recount.

But residents have until April 12 to “cure” their ballots, meaning any ballots that were not counted because of a technical reason – for example, a signature discrepancy, unsigned envelope or no valid ID on file – can rectify the situation with the La Plata County Clerk and Recorder’s Office and have their ballot counted.

Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Lee said there are 39 ballots that could be cured.

Military and overseas ballots can also be received and counted until April 12, she said.

If enough votes went to one candidate or another, it could negate the need for a recount.

Voters who must cure a ballot will be contacted by the clerk’s office, she said.

Lee noted she has never seen a 100% response rate when it comes to the ballot-curing process.

“That never happens,” she said.

Erin Hutchins, elections administrator, said without knowing how many of the 39 ballots will be cured and counted, it is difficult to say how many more votes Woodruff or Wendt must receive to be elected without triggering a recount.

“The problem with giving a solid number as far as how many votes one candidate would need is it turns into a living target,” she said. “Hypothetically, if candidate A got 10 more votes, that would put them past the (one-half percent) difference. But that’s not how it works. These numbers will be increasing with every ballot that we receive.”

She said ballots for Woodruff and Wendt are pretty evenly divided and she expects the trend to continue as ballots are cured.

A recount is planned for April 13 if the curing process does not settle the election, Lee said. The recount process is exactly the same as the initial vote count, with pre-inspection of ballots, signature verification performed by volunteer election judges and sending the ballots through tabulation equipment.

Hutchins said voters wondering if their ballot needs to be cured can check their ballot status at govotecolorado.com. The 39 voters who need to cure their ballots will be notified by mail.

“They’ll also receive a letter from us that gives them an affidavit,” she said. “If they fill out the affidavit on the back of the letter and send in a form of ID that’s listed on there as well as on the postage paid return envelope, we’ll be able to accept it.”

She said the clerk’s office is used to holding recounts, which it performed in the June and November 2022 elections.

“If anyone has any questions they are more than welcome to contact us,” Hutchins said. “And if they have any questions about their ballot status or their cure status they’re welcome to contact us as well.”

Woodruff said he doesn’t plan a major effort to contact voters as part of the curing effort to strengthen his lead. But he wants all 39 voters in question to get their ballots cured regardless of who they voted for.

“The only thing I’m really focusing on right now is to make sure that all 39 folks that did cast a vote that needed to get something fixed, get the opportunity to (cure their ballots),” he said. “Regardless of how they vote, I want to make sure that everybody’s voice is heard.”

He said he will remind people in his circles to make sure their votes are counted.

“Whichever way the dominoes fall in the end, we’re going to go with that after the recount,” he said.

Wendt initially said he doesn’t have plans to urge voters to cure their ballots, but after speaking with his campaign manager and several people with more campaign experience, he decided to perform outreach to voters about the curing process.

“We’ve decided to move forward with attempting the cure process,” he said.

He said his campaign will resume voter outreach on Friday after the county clerk’s office has had time to inform voters about the cure process.

cburney@durangoherald.com