DENVER — For the second time this year, Colorado’s secretary of state has appointed an election supervisor in Pueblo County after the clerk and recorder there made an error on the ballot for the upcoming election.
Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz, a Democrat, will not oversee the November midterm election in the county after ballots for the upcoming election were printed with the words “Official Primary Election Ballot,” on the tab at the top of the ballot, even though this November’s election is a general election, the secretary of state’s office said.
“Although this tear-off tab is not a legally required portion of the official ballot, the misprint on this portion of the ballot creates a risk that voters will be confused as to whether the ballot they have received is the correct one for the General Election,” Secretary of State Jena Griswold wrote in an election order Monday.
Griswold’s office says the county alerted it of the printing error on Friday afternoon. The secretary of state’s office says Pueblo voters will still receive the ballots with the errors because “the misprint on the tear-off tab does not affect the legal validity of the ballot” and to ensure ballots get to voters on time.
Griswold appointed Teak Simonton, the Eagle County Treasurer who was the Eagle County Clerk and Recorder for more than 13 years and who was an election supervisor in Mesa County in 2020, and who helped with elections in Alamosa County in 2021 and earlier this year.
Earlier this year, Drake Rambke was appointed to supervise the primary election in Pueblo County after Ortiz and the county clerk and recorder’s office sent ballots with the wrong state House race in a precinct and omitted a county commissioner race.
Ortiz was handily defeated — 70% to 30% — by Candace Rivera in the clerk and recorder Democratic primary in June.
“My office will continue to work closely with the Pueblo Clerk and Recorder’s Office to ensure the county meets its obligations and duties for the 2022 General Election,” Griswold said in a statement.
