Adams County responds to slow election results
November 17th, 2008
A bit of a follow up to my recent post about the continuing issues with Adams County and their inability to post timely election results. In an article in the Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel last Thursday, the paper talked to county officials about the problem.
Just as I predicted, Karen Long, the Adams County Clerk and Recorder, blamed a rush of absentee ballots. Sound familiar? It should as this excuse has been used by the county in every election in recent years. Long is quoted as saying, “Election day is not election day anymore in this day and age. To think you are going to get results the night of is ludicrous.”
I find that response almost comical! In ‘this day and age’ everything happens faster and with greater efficiency than in years past. And yet that somehow doesn’t apply to Adams County election results? Rather than admit there is an issue and working to address it, Ms. Long continues the long standing tradition of reciting something akin to “it’s not my fault.”
The county continues to have these issues and as the article points out, uses incorrect phrasing on its website by saying 100% of the precincts were reported when that wasn’t the case. The county seems to have applied a completely different meaning to it that no one else understands. As the counting progressed, they even had to post a clarification on their website saying the 100% number means, “every precinct in Adams County has votes cast. It does not indicate we are reporting 100 percent of our unofficial results yet.” HUH? It’s election day – of course everyone has votes cast. <sigh>
Adams County took 25 hours to count 156,654 ballots. By contrast, El Paso County took only eight hours to count 265,828. And yet it is “ludicrous” for us to expect timely election results from Adams County? Hmmm.
[...] results in the 2008 election weren’t posted by Adams County until 25 hours after polls closed. Last year the county reported results 23 hours after polls closed taking four times as long as [...]
[...] results in the 2008 election weren’t posted by Adams County until 25 hours after polls closed. Last year the county reported results 23 hours after polls closed taking four times as long as [...]
[...] Despite years of problems, Adams County elections still fail to give residents timely and accurate results [...]
[...] November 2008 – Continuing the trend in recent years, Adams County is the slowest county in the Denver metro area to report election results. Final results are not posted until 25 hours after polls close. Editors of the Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel note that, “Once again, Adams County seems to lag the rest of the state in its ability to give timely, accurate election information.” County Clerk Karen Long however insists voters and taxpayers simply expect too much from her office and that it is “ludicrous” to expect timely results. (Source) [...]