Pueblo County voter receives wrong ballot

There are just two days until Election Day, but many people have already cast their ballots. In Pueblo County, more than 30,000 people have voted early, either at the polls or through the mail. However, one early voter says people need to pay attention to their ballots because it could be the wrong one.

Bryan Porter, a teacher for District 60 who has lived in Pueblo County since 2005, said he went to vote early at the downtown Pueblo voting location at 7th and Main Street more than a week ago. When he got into a voting booth, he realized there was a problem.

“When I got into the booth, the race that really popped into my mind was the mayoral race for Pueblo,” said Porter. “It occurred to me as a Rye resident that I probably shouldn’t be choosing the Pueblo mayor.” Volunteer judges immediately recognized the problem, a nd had Porter vote a second time on a different machine. However, this left him feeling uneasy.

“Given the President’s recent rhetoric about aggressively going after recent cases of voter fraud, I don’t want the FBI knocking on my door accusing me of voting twice,” said Porter. According to Pueblo County Clerk, Gilbert Ortiz, the mistake was made by one of the volunteer judges. Porter was accidentally put into the wrong voter precinct.

Ortiz says the mistake wasn’t made by the electronic voting machine. It was a human error.

Ortiz also points out there should be no concern for voter fraud because the first ballot was voided.

However, Porter fears he isn’t the first person to have this happen.

“How many people have memorized the ballot when they go into vote?” asked Porter. “I’m worried about how many times it has happened before me and since.”

Porter is right, this has happened before and will likely happen again. To both voters who notice, and those who don’t.

The Pueblo County Clerk says unfortunately a few people vote on the wrong ballot based on precinct every year, and those votes count. Once a ballot is turned in, the person who filled it out is anonymous. However, it is a rarity.