Voting options changed as flood risks closed locations
Flooding led Archuleta County to close the Town Hall ballot drop box and move voting from the Ross Aragon Community Center to the county courthouse in Pagosa Springs. A mobile drop box replaced the Town Hall box, while a joint polling center at the Pine River Library in Bayfield offered Archuleta County residents another place to vote, according to The Colorado Sun.
La Plata County said its election operations would remain open despite road closures, power outages and evacuations, and its clerk’s office planned to work with affected residents on arrangements for voting, The Colorado Sun reported. The Denver Post reported that flood-affected voters who had not voted could seek a replacement ballot at a polling center elsewhere in Colorado; outside their home county, replacement ballots covered statewide races only. Voters unable to vote in person or return a mail ballot could request an emergency ballot online, the Post reported.
Ballots could be returned across county lines
Voters could return a completed ballot anywhere in Colorado, with the ballot sent to the correct county clerk’s office, according to KDVR. That option differed from obtaining a replacement ballot outside a voter’s home county, which the Denver Post said would include statewide races but not local contests.
Count continued after Election Day
The Pagosa Sun later reported that Archuleta County’s Nov. 3 general-election results remained undetermined while ballots were still being counted, with flooding among the contributing delays.
A separate part of the response involved air transport. Colorado Public Radio reported that a state-owned helicopter carried about 100 Archuleta County ballots over flood-damaged terrain and was also used to move election equipment. CPR’s account said the pilot transporting the equipment was placed under oath and bipartisan election judges were positioned at both ends of the trip. The retrieved text for that CPR page did not contain the election story, so these details could not be checked against the article itself.
