Today is Monday after the Gunnison Cattlemen’s Days Parade and the New Castle Burning Mountain Festival Parade – and I am happy to report that both events went really well! We had a great showing at the Cattlemen’s Days event – thanks to all 35 + of you that endured the hot sun in Gunnison that day on my behalf. And thanks to you Frank and Kim Breslin and to Michael Gibson for walking with my banner in the New Castle parade. I am VERY APPRECIATIVE of your efforts. I know it helped get the word out about my campaign. And, for reasons unknown to me, my opponent from Mount Crested Butte didn’t make the trip down to Gunnison to participate in the Cattlemen’s Days parade…

So, about the campaign. There have been some recent developments that people who believe in the democratic process are not going to be pleased about. We have recently received an opinion from the Secretary of State’s (SOS) office that you might be interested in. Last week I asked the SOS to consider amending their election rules to do two things: 1. formally allow county clerks to add an unaffiliated member to the local resolution board that will be “resolving” my write-in ballots ( to complement the republican and democratic board members) and 2. Follow the section of statute that allows ballots that have my name written on them to count EVEN if the voter did not fill in the rectangular box next to the written name.

The SOS has decided that because the “vast majority of partisan races don’t have an unaffiliated candidate” they did not see any reason to amend the rules to formerly allow a member of the resolution board to be unaffiliated. The good news is that the rule does not prohibit the addition of an unaffiliated resolution board member, and that the five county clerks in my district are miles ahead of me and have already thought about it. I also firmly believe that the resolution board members will uphold election integrity and would not be biased in any way in their review. I had just hoped to make the rules clear in that regard.

On the second request, so that everyone really understands this one – there are two sections of law that say two different things. One section deals specifically with write-in candidates. (1-7-114 C.R.S.) It says that to vote for a write-in candidate the name must be written in on the appropriate blank, the candidate must be a bonafide write-in candidate, and the last name must be included and reasonably spelled so the voter intent can be determined. No mention of a little rectangle. The problem is that there is another more general section of statute (1-7-304 C.R.S.) that says that to vote for a candidate the eligible voter must “fill in the box next to the name of the candidate of their choice”.

The Secretary of State’s office informed me that they will be relying on the section of the law that talks about filling in the box when it comes to determining voter intent in my race. I asked the SOS to consider a rule change that would make it clear that they would be following the section of law that deals specifically with the provisions of the write-in candidates but they responded by saying that they don’t see any reason to take that step.

Their position is that they believe the box must be filled in to have the ballot count. Well, if you are a voter, you might see a reason to allow your vote to count if you clearly write my name in but forget to fill the box in properly! The stated reason behind this decision is that the ballot scanning machines need the box filled in to have the ballot “count” on the first review. I understand that – but what if the election is close and there is a recount? I think if the voter takes the time to write my name in properly, their ballot should count. Voter intent should be the priority…

Ok, so this is really important! Everyone needs to remember to fill the box in AND write my name if they want to vote for me. I am not sure if ballots lacking a completed box will be counted in a recount situation – hopefully the answer is yes if it comes to that. I will be hiring legal counsel to address this issue if and when the time comes. And, on the positive side, I have met with the clerks in each of the five counties and they clearly believed in having a fair election and they clearly believed in putting the intent of the voter first. Since they are the ones that will make the final call on this issue I feel like they will make the intent of the voter their top priority, and will take the section of law into account that deals with write-in elections.

On other matters:

I have appealed the Federal judge’s ruling in my lawsuit, and the court of appeals has agreed to an expedited review. They are going to try and issue their opinion by September 3rd. The national organization that is coordinating independent voters (Independentvoters.org) and the newly formed Independent Voters for Colorado have submitted an amicus brief supporting my argument that the judge’s ruling be overturned and that the statute requiring a 17 month registration period for unaffiliated candidates be ruled unconstitutional. I am very appreciative of their support and want to thank Joelle Riddle, Nancy Ross, and Jackie Salit for their support. Joelle is the founder of the newly formed Independent Voters for Colorado – good luck Joelle!

We are in the process of ordering yard signs and will let everyone know when they come in.

The calendar has been pretty busy:

We have participated in five parades throughout the district and will be attending the Silt Hey Days parade on the last Saturday in July.

I will be attending Mountain Fair in Carbondale this weekend, and have a meet and greet at the Pour House on Friday night in Carbondale from 5-6:30. Thank you Skip for allowing me to do that,

Paula Swenson and Valerie Schmaltz are hosting a ladies night out fundraiser on August 12th at the Wine Cellar in Gunnison,

I have an ice cream social coming up on August 22cd at the Jorgensen Park gazebo,

I will be in attendance at the Crested Butte Town Council meeting tonight at 6:00,

I will be meeting with the Pitkin County Commissioner’s in Aspen on August 10th,

I am speaking at the Gunnison Water Workshop this week.

And I look forward to attending the open house that the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District will be hosting this Wednesday at their new office!

Thanks everyone for your volunteer help, your donations, and your support. If you add up the obstacles that are out there for independent candidates (17 month registration requirement to petition on to the ballot, half the campaign contribution allowed per individual, a judge’s ruling that independent candidates can cause voter confusion and ballot clutter, discount postage rates for major-party candidates only, and now a ballot requirement that is over the top for write in candidates) it can seem discouraging.

But — I am not discouraged! In fact I am even more determined than ever! I can win this thing with your help. This election is not just about me any more (it never really was). It is about principle, it is about what is right. It is about what the country stands for. Even George Washington expressed grave reservations about what could happen if the party system resulted in a loss of democratic principles and a lack of focus on the citizens themselves. It doesn’t have to be that way – and if I get re-elected I will continue to try and change the way we have been doing business so that the focus is on you and on solving problems.

Sincerely,