DENVER – Colorado’s secretary of state on Wednesday evening appointed an election supervisor to oversee the rest of the primary election in Pueblo County following complaints regarding incorrect ballots being sent to voters.
Drake Rambke, an election administrator who previously worked for the Department of State and was assigned to be an election observer in Pueblo County, will oversee the rest of the election – in which ballots are due June 28.
The decision comes after seven formal complaints were filed with the state alleging errors and mistakes on ballots in Pueblo County for the upcoming primary, including some which had already been substantiated: Incorrect state House race ballots were delivered in Precinct 209 and the Pueblo County Commissioner District 3 race was omitted “from a substantial number of ballots mailed to voters in Pueblo,” the secretary of state’s office said.
The office said the investigation into the full slate of allegations is ongoing.
“Every eligible Coloradan – Republican, Democrat, and Unaffiliated alike – has the right to cast a ballot in accessible and secure elections. That’s why I am taking action to appoint a supervisor in Pueblo County,” said Secretary of State Jena Griswold in a statement. “My Office will continue to work closely with the Pueblo Clerk and Recorder’s Office to provide the support and oversight needed to carry out the 2022 Primary.”
An election order says that the decision was made “given the pattern of errors and omissions by the Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder’s Office.”
Pueblo County’s clerk and recorder is Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz. The Democrat is in his fourth term in the office.
This is the third county in which Griswold has appointed a supervisor to oversee the primary election. She appointed Christi Coburn to oversee the Elbert County primary amid an election security breach investigation into Clerk and Recorder Dallas Schroeder and during the ongoing criminal case against Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters over an election systems breach there.
