Pueblo city clerk prepares for runoff in mayoral race; what to expect
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) - People living in Pueblo are going to have to wait until the end of January to see who their next mayor will be, according to final unofficial election results that were released by Pueblo County.
The final unofficial votes were counted and current City Council President Heather Graham led with nearly 23% of votes, followed closely by incumbent Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar, with about 21%.
This year, there were nine candidates running to be Pueblo's mayor. Races with multiple candidates can make it hard for one person to earn over 50% of the votes that are needed, as they are split between several candidates.
A person running for the mayoral seat must earn over 50% of the vote to be certified as the winner. Since Graham and Gradisar received the top percentage of votes, they will both face off in a second election.
On Tuesday, KRDO 13 spoke with incumbent Mayor Nick Gradisar. He said the voters are now able to focus on two individuals.
"It does not really matter if you're first or second. I mean you're in the runoff. Tomorrow starts another election cycle," said Gradisar.
Current City Council President, Heather Graham said the people of Pueblo have spoken.
"They are ready for a new leader in the City of Pueblo,” said Graham.
Graham told KRDO13 in past coverage that her top priority was to address crime in Pueblo. She said her first step would be increasing the number of Pueblo police officers. Gradisar said his top priority was economic development. He wanted to bring new business to Pueblo to keep residents from leaving the city.
This election cycle, the city is administering the runoff election. It was determined that the county would be unable to run the January 2024 runoff after administering the November election.
"They've been great to work with, but this time we are going to be doing our own standalone election. The county kind of has a conflict with the presidential primaries that are coming up, so the city will be running the election and we will be having a lot of similarities," said Marisa Stoller, Pueblo City Clerk.
The city has spent $30,000 on tabulation equipment and software to count the ballots. The money is going to come out of the 2024 Capital Campaign budget.
The second round of ballots will be sent out Jan. 2., 2024.
"We have unofficial results right now, but we won't have those official results until November 28th. And then 45 days, even if and then obviously, we have to tell the printer, the printer has to print the ballots and then after the after, you know, two weeks of that, then we have to be 45 days in advance so it can be sent out to the overseas voters," said Stoller.
The runoff election is planned to be held Jan. 23,2024.
