There is a state senate recall election starting in Colorado Springs next week, you may have heard. We have early voting here, and there are four early voting locations. One might applaud our local voting clerk's enthusiasm for early voting--except that of the four early voting sites, two are completely outside of the senate district and one is literally on the edge.
Here's my letter to the Denver Post about this interesting situation.
Hello Mr. Hoover.
Your article about the recall elections in Colorado Springs and Pueblo was good, and covered most of the issues. One thing that seems to have been missed, though, is an obvious question about how Colorado Springs chose its early voting sites.
Consider this: Early voting begins on Thursday, Sept. 5th, and runs through Monday, Sept. 9th. These offices are open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m:
- Main Clerk Branch: 1675 W Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, CO
- Downtown Clerk Branch at City Hall: 200 S Cascade, Colorado Springs, CO
- Southeast Powers Clerk's Office: Corner of Powers Blvd. and Airport Rd., Colorado Springs, CO
- North Union Town Center Clerk's Office: 8830 N. Union Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO
Take a look at this map of Senate District 11.
Now, just for fun, try mapping those addresses onto the map.
- The Main Clerk Branch is 2.6 miles from the closest point within the district.
- Downtown Clerk Branch is within the district.
- The Southeast Powers Clerk's Office is at the far eastern edge of the district.
- The North Union Town Center Clerk's Office is 10 miles from the district.
So the vast bulk of potential early voters do not have a nearby early polling place. Those in notoriously liberal Manitou Springs will probably go to the downtown office, a distance of over 6 miles, and those in the mixed neighborhoods in the southern part of the district (see http://blogs.gazette.com/...) will probably go to the Southeast Powers office, which is about 8 miles (from Stratmoor, for example).
The reality is that in Colorado Springs, there is effectively one early voting location, the downtown office. It will be interesting to see how much traffic there is at that site when it opens this coming Thursday.
And it will be interesting to see how the Denver Post covers this election. I can pretty much predict how the Colorado Springs Gazette will cover it.
Thank you for your time.