KJCT8.com - Grand Junction, Montrose - Weather, News, Sports | Both sides agree to disagree in voting machine debacle
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GRAND JUNCTION (KJCT) - Governor Bill Ritter signed a bill that gave secretary of state Mike Coffman more time to retest and re-certify voting machines across the state.
Since then, representatives of the county have been to Denver to try and plead there case. But at this time both sides agree to disagree.
Mesa County Clerk Janice Rich, County Commissioner Steve Acquafresca and election officials met with Governor Ritter's legal council.
They said the state still plans on requiring Colorado's counties to use paper based polling place elections " whether we like it or not," Rich said.
A claim that she says contradicts past elections.
"We have been following all federal and state laws, for the last 8 years. We have equipment that's Federally Certified and when we used it in 2006 it was state certified," Clerk Rich said, she added. "They believe that the voters on the Front Range have lost confidence in the electronic voting."
The machines Mesa County uses are currently used in 38 other states and are still federally certified and have reported no major errors.
Changing the current voting process in less then 180 days, will be costly for the county in dollars and man hours.
Country residents can expect a formal letter in the coming days explaining this...and that it may be best to register to vote by mail this November.
