More than One Thousand Trinidad Ballots Missing City TABOR Question

Las Animas County election officials discovered this week that 1,095 ballots sent to residents inside the city limits of Trinidad did not include the city ballot measure labeled 2A. The missing item was a TABOR question asking whether the city may increase an excise tax on lodging to fund parks, playgrounds and open spaces. County Clerk and Recorder Karrie Apple acknowledged the error and said her office had mailed corrected ballots.

"I am going to take responsibility for this,” Apple said, describing the omission as a county mistake. "It was our error.”

County election staff said the problem stemmed from a coding mismatch when preparing ballot styles. Apple said the spreadsheet used to merge voter files did not match what was in Score, the state system used to create ballots. "Our spreadsheet that we use to merge these on our end did not necessarily match what was in Score, which is the program we use to create our ballots,” Apple said. She said the city ballot label was coded incorrectly as "Trinidad out," which caused the precinct split to exclude city voters and resulted in county ballots being sent instead of the city version.

A voter who noticed the missing TABOR question prompted the office to investigate. The clerk notified the Secretary of State, which instructed the county to issue replacement ballots and provide explanatory material to affected voters. Apple said election staff worked through the weekend to reorder and mail corrected ballots, and that by Thursday voters in Trinidad should have received the proper ballot style that includes the 2A question.

Apple said the office is holding the originally returned incorrect ballots and will allow voters to submit the corrected ballot. "So if they've received the new ballot and they've already voted the old ballot. We have just we've accepted them. We have not done anything with them. They're not in our system. We are holding them so that they have a chance to send in the corrected ballot," Apple said. Voters who do not return the corrected ballot by seven o'clock on election day will still have their original ballot counted for presidential and state contests, but it will not include the city TABOR question. "If at seven o'clock on election day they have not sent the corrected ballot, we will then take the ballot they've already sent and we will count that ballot for the presidential and the state measures. So their ballots are still going to be counted. It will just miss the Tabor notice that's on it,” Apple said.

Apple encouraged anyone who has an incorrect ballot to discard it and vote using the new ballot being mailed. "I just wanted to be fully transparent with the people, let them know this was a mistake on our end. We've corrected it, and we do want them to vote,” she said. County election staff asked residents with questions to call the clerk's office for instructions.

The error directly affects local control over lodging tax revenues that could fund municipal recreational projects. For Trinidad voters the corrected ballots restore the opportunity to decide the 2A measure that will determine whether the city can pursue the proposed excise tax increase.