Douglas County Election Notebook: A Train Tax on the Wrong Ballots, the State's Fix, and What Oct. 15 Brings

Ballots have been in Douglas County mailboxes for a week, and the week's biggest election story was about the ballots themselves. Here is what moved, with a link to our page on each. Weekly until Nov. 3.

7A: the wrong ballots, and the un-count

On Monday night 9NEWS reported that Ballot Issue 7A, the Front Range Passenger Rail District's 0.333 percent sales tax and $580 million in debt, had been printed on ballots for voters outside the district in four counties, Douglas among them. In Douglas County only Sterling Ranch Colorado Metropolitan Districts Nos. 1 through 7 are inside the redrawn district; nobody else here is supposed to see the question. By Wednesday morning the Secretary of State's spokesman was telling the Denver Post the office would help counties so that "only eligible voters have their vote in this contest counted," and by Wednesday night the elections director, Judd Choate, had sent the four clerks their instructions: do not tabulate 7A votes from anyone outside the boundary, configure the counting systems accordingly, and in the two places where one ballot style covers both eligible and ineligible neighbors, Bow Mar and Sterling Ranch, out-stack the envelopes for hand review. Ineligible ballots there get "signature verified, deconstructed, and then duplicated onto a ballot style that does not include 7A." The Denver Gazette puts the voters sent the question across the four counties at some 800,000. Nobody gets a new ballot, and no hand count is involved.

Douglas County's clerk has not said how many local ballots are affected; the county newsroom has nothing newer than Oct. 5. The district also picked up a campaign-finance complaint this week, from a volunteer it recruited, over nearly $2 million in public advertising the district calls educational. Our running page on the error, updated as the county speaks, and our 7A explainer. If 7A is on your ballot and you are not in Sterling Ranch, leave it blank; the rest of the ballot is unaffected.

Marx: the refund clock

The state hearing officer's Oct. 2 decision fined Victor Marx's campaign $57,647.16 over 200 over-limit contributions and set three dates: refunds to donors by Oct. 15, anything unrefunded to charity by Oct. 26, and a certification to the state by Nov. 2. The docket shows nothing new since. Next Thursday is the first of those tests. The fine, in full and the governor's race from Douglas County.

Weiser: a deadline passed in silence

Phil Weiser's cure deadline in the state's review of Danielle Neuschwanger's complaints was Monday, Oct. 6. As of this week the Secretary of State's hearing-officer docket carries no Weiser case, which is what you would expect if the campaign's September claim that it had already cured every alleged violation held up; the office has published nothing either way. We will say so when it does. Who is Phil Weiser.

CD4: our arithmetic is up

We published our analysis of how Lauren Boebert could lose the 4th District on Tuesday, a week early, into the first week of ballots. It does not call the race; it shows what Douglas County would have to do and what the suburban counties would have to do for the math to work, and names the numbers that would prove it wrong. Lauren Boebert Is Going to Lose. The Oct. 1 hearing on her protection order against David Wheeler still has no reported outcome in the outlets we check. Her third-quarter FEC report, and Eileen Laubacher's, are due Oct. 15, and we will refresh the money on the race page that week.

Parker: a forum, members only

The Parker Chamber held its town council candidate forum Wednesday evening at the Parker Hotel, one audience seat per member business. The chamber said it would post a recording to its social media after the event; as of Thursday morning its events page shows no link. When it appears we will fold it into the Parker council page.

New on the site this week

The judges page, which nobody else writes, was the most-read page on the site at one point Wednesday, eight people on it at once. Also new: this weekend's drop, a stargazing party on a closed ranch and a Fright Night for the kids; the Boebert analysis above; and the 7A page. The five most-read pages on the site were re-checked against their sources on Monday, and the small things that turned up were fixed the same day.

More: every race and measure on your ballot. We do not endorse candidates. Campaigns can send corrections to hello@discoverdougco.com.