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December 3, 2020
ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
Northglenn-ThorntonSentinel.com
VOLUME 57 | ISSUE 17
Westminster recall up in air Hearing officer Karen Goldman swears in City Councilor Anita Seitz before she asks questions during a Nov. 20 hearing online regarding an effort to recall Seitz and three of her colleagues on the Westminster City Council. COURTESY IMAGE BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Backers of an effort to recall four members of the Westminster City Council withdrew their petitions just two days before a formal hearing on their efforts. In a letter to the Westminster City Clerk, Denver Attorney Scott Gessler said he had been hired by the two members of the recall committee, Jessica True and Deb Teter. He withdrew their petitions and said they were withdrawing protests they had made against the City Clerk’s decision that they had not collected enough signatures. Neither Gessler nor other members of the recall committee could be reached for comment. The formal hearing, with City Clerk consultant Karen Goldman, did occur virtually on Nov. 20, although none of the backers officially attended the meeting. Two critics of the recall, Kim and David Wallace testified that they felt the recall effort was misleading, unnecessary and too expensive. However, in her findings of fact, Goldman noted that neither of the Wallaces had signed the petition and had not been misled. She also noted that the cost of the recall and a formal election were not reasons to deny the effort. “...citizens are guaranteed the right to recall in the Colorado Constitution and state statutes, the Westminster City Charter and Municipal Code, and cost is not a reason to deny those rights or to
disallow the use of the recall process by the registered electors of a municipality,” Goldman wrote in her findings. Nonetheless, Goldman found that the recall petitions were indeed insufficient. “Therefore, it is the final determination of the hearing officer that the Westminster City Clerk’s initial determination of insufficiency stands and that there are not sufficient signatures to bring any of the four recall petitions forward to an election,” Goldman wrote. Water Rates at issue The recall is based on a 2018 City Council decision to increase residential water rates for 2020. Staff and councilors said the increase was needed to pay for repairs and maintain the city’s aging system of water pipes, storage tanks and mains. Councilors were scheduled to consider a similar increase for 2021 this summer but postponed it due to concerns about the economic impact of COVID-19 and stay-at-home orders. Organizers spent the summer going door-to-door and setting up tables in parking lots around the city collecting signatures. According to the city, the group needed 5,009 signatures to put Atchison on the recall ballot and handed in 6,996 signatures. Similarly, the group needed to collect 6,098 signatures apiece to recall the three City Councilors, and they collected that many. The
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group collected 6,708 signatures to recall Skulley, 6,720 to recall Seitz and 6,730 to recall Voelz. They delivered their petitions Oct. 30. On Nov. 3, the clerk found that entire sections of signatures had to be removed because the signature collector had not filled out the form legally. That removed 2,346 signatures the group had collected to recall Mayor Atchison, along with 942 of the signatures collected for Skulley’s recall, 1,615 for Seitz and 1,445 for Voelz. It left too few valid signatures to justify a recall on any of the council members, she found. The clerk reviewed the remaining signatures themselves in a Nov. 14 statement and found many belonged to people that didn’t live in Westminster, were not registered voters, were not legible, were incomplete or made some other error. That review removed another 518 of the signatures targeting Atchison, 581 against Seitz, 611 of those against Voelz and 655 against Skulley. The two reviews left too few valid signatures, according to the clerk. The recall group collected 3,828 valid signatures to challenge Atchison, 1,181 signatures short. For Seitz, the group collected 4,520 valid signatures, 1,578 too few to challenge her. For Skulley, the group collected 5,116 valid signatures, 982 too few to challenge her seat. For Voelz, the group collected 4,706 signatures. That was 1,392 signatures short of what they needed to put his seat on the recall ballot.
Adams Co. elections consider 2020 successful, despite challenges Record turnout in spite of new rules and COVID-19 protocols BY LIAM ADAM LADAMS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Despite managing a historical influx of ballots and a deadly virus, Adams County election officials are happy with how they handled the General Election. Adams County Clerk and Recorder Josh Zygielbaum said Nov. 3 went smoothly because his team learned important lessons from the June state primary election. Ultimately, his staff successfully processed 243,000 ballots, the county’s highest ever. Adams County elections proZygielbaum cessed 199,100 ballots in the 2016 presidential election, or about 72 percent of registered voters, according to county elections office data. This year’s 243,000 ballots represent 83 percent of registered voters. “It’s astronomically high,” Zygielbaum said. Adams County, the fifth-largest county in the state, had the fifth-highest voter turnout in Colorado this year.
COVID safety It didn’t come easily, though. Election officials enacted several changes to ensure that voters kept safe from COVID-19. Before the June 30 primary, the elections office installed Plexiglass in the voting and processing centers. It also removed tables where voters used to complete affidavits and signature cards. Instead, the office better utilized electronic ballot marking devices. Even then, “We saw some kinks and things didn’t work out as smoothly as we liked in the primary,” Zygielbaum said. “We were able to use the primary in June as a test for the General Election.” Zygielbaum’s office did more in advance of SEE ELECTION, P2
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