Voter registration in Colorado ends October 6 and early voting begins October 20, and there is a big push from Obama, Udall, and Governor Ritter for people to vote by mail. This will be important, because there are 18 ballot measures on the Colorado ballot this year, which will make voting lines very slow. And the election could very well hinge on the outcome in Colorado.
However, a caller to the local Jay Marvin show this morning (there was a guest host today) said she is helping process forms (I assume she meant forms for a mail-in ballot, although it sounded at one point as if she were referring to actual ballots), and fully 20% of the forms are invalid.
Why? It's a simple matter of ballot or form design:
You remember all the standardized tests you took where you had to fill in little circles or ovals? Well, apparently these forms (and the paper ballots people will fill out, too?) have boxes or rectangles on them which must similarly be filled in completely. However, this is harder to do and less intuitive than filling in an oval.
As a result, the caller said, many of the boxes have check marks, X marks, are only partially filled in, or have been circled insted of filled in. All of these forms are invalid. Even with instructions on the form, she said that 20% of the forms she had seen were invalid.
If this is true on mail-in ballots, this could easily invalidate enough votes to swing the election. I don't have direct information to verify any of this, but hope someone does. I just wanted to raise the alert, because if this is true, voter education on how to fill out ballots will be crucial. I also wonder if there is any means to count ballots in a recount where the instructions were not followed exactly but where the voter intent is clear.
And even if this only applies to applications for mail-in ballots, those who apply and never get their ballots may not end up voting, also affecting the election.
It will be very important to be vigilant about all voting matters in Colorado, especially since the Secretary of State is a Republican. Colorado could easily be the Florida or Ohio of this election.
Does anyone have more or better information on form and ballot design in Colorado to help me understand what I heard from this caller this morning?