Denver Makes National News For Bad Voting

With numerous voting centers reporting long wait times and missing supplies, it would seem safe to say that voting in Denver is a disaster right now, and could be all day. 

There are reports that some voters are being turned away because poll workers were unable to verify that they were registered and had no provisional ballots on hand. 

And now, Denver has made national news because of the errors.
From an AP article:

In Denver, up to 300 people stood outside some polling sites. One was Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter, who waited an hour and 40 minutes.

“It’s actually heartening,” he said. It means people “understand the process is important enough to be patient and wait in line.” Nonetheless, Democratic Party officials asked a judge to extend poll hours because of the delays.

A long ballot and new machines caused the disruptions, according to Colorado secretary of state spokeswoman Lisa Doran. “Despite the training, some of the election judges are intimidated by the machines,” she said.

The political ramifications to this could also be harsh, as Denver is an important Democratic stronghold. The state Democratic Party has filed and injunction in court today, seeking to extend voting time by two hours on account of the errors in Denver.

Erin Rosa was born in Spain and raised in Colorado Springs. She is a freelance writer currently living in Denver. Rosa's work has been featured in a variety of news outlets including the Huffington Post, Democracy Now!, and the Rocky Mountain Chronicle, an alternative-weekly in Northern Colorado where she worked as a columnist covering the state legislature. Rosa has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her reporting on lobbying and woman's health issues. She was also tapped with a rare honorable mention award by the Newspaper Guild-CWA's David S. Barr Award in 2008--only the second such honor conferred in its nine-year history--for her investigative series covering the federal government's Supermax prison in the state. Rosa covers the labor community, corrections, immigration and government transparency matters. She can be reached at erosa@www.coloradoindependent.com.

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