State Election officials to help oversee Teller County results

Some ballots are already returned in Teller County where Tuesday night, Krystal Brown, the clerk and recorder will have company counting them. The Secretary of State’s Office, in Denver will send state election officials to observe the ballot counting.

“This is a great opportunity for Teller County citizens to see that they can feel secure that we are running fair and accurate elections,” Brown said.

The sheriff’s race is the one to watch in this southern Colorado county. It’s a rematch between incumbent Mike Ensminger and challenger Mark Manriquez.

In 2010 Manriquez lost the GOP primary by a little more than 1,000 votes. That prompted a group of voters to make accusations of ballot stuffing.

This November the county wants the outcome to be free of any question marks.

In a statement to KRDO NewsChannel 13, Rick Coolidge, the communications director with the Secretary of State’s Office said: “Our elections division has been aggressive traveling to counties statewide and working with the county clerks this election with near 100 percent coverage. As we get closer to the election, we’re focusing our resources on a select few counties to help improve the integrity of the election, while also increasing voter confidence.”

Brown promises there won’t be a repeat of four years ago

“We have learned from experience and we are here to prove to Teller County citizens that we are here to make sure we do the best job possible,” Brown said, “and to make Teller County proud.”

Both Ensminger and Manriquez say they fully support the decision to add extra oversight to the vote-counting process.