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Brown loses ground in race

But Republican challenger’s victory is probable

As of Monday, J. Paul Brown’s already narrow advantage over incumbent Mike McLachlan, D-Durango, shrank to a mere 206 votes.

The new numbers – 17,006 ballots for McLachlan, versus 17,212 ballots for Brown, with 34,218 votes cast in total in the district – are tantalizingly close to the half-a-percent margin needed to trigger an automatic recount.

Last week, McLachlan vowed to fight on, saying ballots from overseas and the military were still trickling in, and several hundred provisional and uncured ballots had yet to be counted.

Meanwhile, Democratic operatives have been embroiled in the arithmetic problem that is the 59th, hoping – with shoe-leather, luck and Denver’s legal guidance – to wrest new McLachlan votes from La Plata County’s list of 283 uncured ballots.

The Democrats’ strategy is yielding results. Since Election Day, McLachlan has indeed found just one source of new votes: blue-leaning La Plata County, where, in the last five days, McLachlan has picked up 63 votes and Brown has picked up 40.

At this rate, not quite enough cured La Plata County votes are breaking McLachlan’s way to meet the threshold for an automatic recount.

Still, this is progress for McLachlan. And with about 180 La Plata County ballots still eligible for “curing,” mathematically, he remains within hypothetical striking distance of the few dozen votes he needs to wrack up if he’s to trigger a recount.

But the sun is quickly setting on this vessel of as yet unvanquished Democratic hope: The deadline for curing ballots is Wednesday.

The Colorado Democratic Party did not respond to requests for comment.

On Monday, it was unclear whether there might be more votes out there for Brown in GOP-strongholds like Archuleta County, where Brown shellacked McLachlan, 3,287 to 1,969.

Archuleta County Clerk & Recorder June Madrid was out of the office Monday.

The Colorado Republican Party’s communications director, Owen Loftus, said the GOP isn’t taking Democrats’ assaults on Brown’s slim majority in 59th lying down.

“We are doing ballot chases there, as we are in other parts of the state – sending people knocking door-to-door, making follow-up phone calls, about ballots that have been rejected for some reason, usually signature discrepancies,” he said.

He said the party’s efforts to retain the 59th aren’t just focused on Archuleta County, but all over the district.

“We’re trying to find votes everywhere that we can,” he said. “We don’t want it to get to a recount. We’re making sure that all the ballots that have been cast get counted, and our goal it to have Brown become representative-elect as soon as possible.”

According to Colorado election law, McLachlan can demand a recount himself, regardless of whether he achieves the automatic-recount threshold – though he’d have to finance it on his own dime.

Rich Coolidge, communications director for the Colorado secretary of state, said he couldn’t recall any recent recounts in Colorado House races that resulted in the candidates’ positions flipping.

Various election officials said a recount in the 59th might cost anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000.

Coolidge said given the vast amounts of money that groups have lavished on the 59th, interested parties might not balk at a recount’s price tag.

“If you’ve spent $150,000 on winning the race, what’s $160,000 at that point? I am not hearing that any of these state races are going to be close enough for the secretary of state to recount them. But it might be worth it for the (Colorado Democratic Party) to come in and pay for it if McLachlan doesn’t,” he said.

Tight races in Adams and Jefferson counties also are making demands on the parties.

But now that the Democrats have firm control of the Colorado House, securing Republican defeat in the 59th may be a less urgent priority for the Democrats.

“A McLachlan victory doesn’t really move the ball that far down the field,” Coolidge said.

cmcallister@durangoherald.com



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