Two weeks after primary ballots were cast, I sat with a partner from the other party to help La Plata County Clerk Tiffany Lee and her staff perform this very important process of counting votes.
It was very detailed. Working from a random list provided by Colorado’s secretary of state and copies of 125 cast ballots, we divided into two groups of three. We then pulled from large sealed boxes, sat side by side and verbally ensured what was marked on the anonymous ballot matched the copy.
We then worked with the clerk’s staff, using the ballots and the recording computer software, to again ensure that the computer record for those number ballots matched, and data was properly recorded.
The process took three hours that day, and gave me and – I believe – my counterparts of the other party the assurance that the system was accurate.
That the system our clerk and the state use had correctly recorded the voters’ wishes from the primary.
We will probably spend a full day when the general election is audited.
Be sure to cast your vote in the November election.
Craig N. Larson
Durango
