Things are looking bright for the coming year. 2010 sure was an interesting one. I learned alot about how our political system works, and what is needed to improve it so that we can make it more responsive to the people. I see alot of positives on the horizon and it is my sincere hope that the coming year will be a good one for us all.
I am currently sorting through all of my campaign materials so that I can hit the ground running when I run again. I am also working with Joelle Riddle and two national groups to move forward on an organization that will be dedicated to adopting non-partisan political reforms here in Colorado. And lastly, I am still seeking to land work that would allow me to contribute positively on the issues that are so important to the Western Slope and to Colorado.
Again, I want to thank everyone who contributed to my campaign to be the first duly elected independent in the State Legislature….I definately plan to try again and next time I will be an even stronger campaigner…But for now, it is great to be home and spend time with my family. I wish all of my past colleagues and the new members of the General Assembly well this coming year. It will surely be a challenge for them but I know that they will do their best.
It is finally official – I did not win the race for House District 61. I came within 300 votes out of 30,000 cast – but it wasn’t enough. The final count as I have it is Roger 9660, the “write in” 9368. I called Roger Wilson to wish him luck a few minutes ago. I want to thank my family, my supporters, and the county clerks for their efforts to finalize the vote count these last few days. Continue reading →
Hi, today is Sunday, and here is an update on the election. Starting tomorrow Gunnison County and Garfield County will begin separating out by hand the ballots that don’t have a box filled in for the House District 61 race. Then, after they segregate those ballots, their respective write-in boards will take a look at them and resolve voter intent. If the voter meets the voter intent requirements, i.e. they wrote at least my last name in using a reasonable spelling, then the vote will be counted for me. Continue reading →
On Friday the Denver District Court issued a ruling clarifying that all of the ballots cast for me in the election must actually be counted. Here is what Judge Madden said:
“For the reasons stated above, the Secretary of State is ordered to perform an inspection of the ballots constituting the undervote in the HD 61 race, and to include in the vote total for Curry those ballots in which Curry’s name has been written on the write-in line for the HD 61 race whether or not the target area designating the selection of a write-in candidate has been marked pursuant to the same procedure as stated in Election Rule 27.7.4.3.”
Continue reading →
“ORDER TO COUNT ALL WRITE-IN VOTES IN THE HD 61 CONTEST”
The Secretary of State has 3 days (by 5:00 pm Wednesday) to appeal this decision to the Colorado Supreme Court. We hope the County Clerks are allowed to do their job soon & begin the count. The State could still delay this decision if they choose to fight against voter intent and appeal this ruling. Continue reading →
We just learned that the judge has ruled that the undervote in the State House District 61 race will be counted. We have no further details at this time, but will update when we’ve reviewed the decision and know more.
As of 5:00 this evening, we can’t say for certain who will be representing House District 61 in the Colorado General Assembly. The reason that the vote count in House District 61 is not final has to do with 1979 ballots that were “undervoted”. I am in second place trailing Roger Wilson, the democrat, by 492 votes. Because we had poll watchers present at each of the five counties we know that a significant portion of these undervoted ballots have my name written on them. They were not counted on this first count because the box next to my name was not filled in. However, we expect that this box situation will be dealt with by the Denver District Court by the end of this week – and if the judge rules in my favor the counties will be ordered to count all my votes. Continue reading →
This could be very, very close. All boils down to Gunnison County results which we are told will be released by 3 to 4 pm on Wednesday. Despite coming up short in the northern portion of the district, it appears a strong showing in Kathleen’s home county (indicated by local polling) could still result in a Curry victory.
Interpretation of voter intent, undervote (where the voter wrote in the name but didn’t fill in the box) and judge’s ruling on if those ‘undercounts’ must be counted (the Judge said he would rule on Thursday) will likely determine the outcome. Here’s a story from Glenwood Springs Post Independent about the results in Garfied, Eagle, Hinsdale, & Pitkin counties.
