Missing ballots weren't prepared  (CO)

Annette Espinoza    Denver Post   25 October 2008

Stephanie O'Malley, Denver's clerk and recorder, said Saturday nearly 11,000 ballots that had been reported missing Friday had never been prepared by the vendor.

O'Malley said an investigation led by the Denver Elections Division discovered that the vendor didn't prepare the mail-in ballots "due to a technical problem with the data file on the vendor's end."

She said the vendor, Sequoia Voting Systems, failed to notify city officials about the technical problems or tell them the company had delivered only about half of the requested 21,450 ballots.

"We take this matter very seriously and want Denver voters to know that no one will be disenfranchised by this vendor error," O'Malley said in a statement.

The Porterville, Calif.-based vendor said it delivered all 21,450 ballots to a U.S. Postal Service mail processing plant on Oct. 16, but the post office reported it had received only 10,364.

"Sequoia made an unfortunate mistake with a portion of Denver's absentee ballots that we produced and mailed," said company spokeswoman Michelle Shafer. "We are extremely regretful of this error and take full responsibility for it. We are working diligently this weekend on this matter."

The ballots are scheduled to arrive at the Postal Service's General Mail facility here on Monday and will immediately be sent to voters, city officials said.

The Elections Division was placing automated calls to voters whose ballots were supposed to be mailed on Oct. 15, telling them about the error and assuring them that their ballots would be mailed Monday.

The deadline for requesting applications is Tuesday. The last ballots sent from the Elections Division will go out that night. However, the turnaround time to get ballots filled out and returned by mail is tight.

The city suggests voters mail their ballots by Friday. Voters also may them off at any Denver early- voting site, at the Elections Division or at any of the 185 Denver polling locations on Election Day.