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15-minute voting time not a concrete limit
Herald Staff Writer
"I think we're enforcing the 15-minute rule, but we're not holding a stopwatch on anyone," said former La Plata County Commissioner Sheryl Ayers, who is working part-time in the clerk and recorder's office during the elections. "I think everyone finished within 15 minutes today except perhaps in one instance."
The 15 minutes allowed in Colorado voting booths is an increase from the 10 minutes allowed previously. State Senate Bill 83 approved by legislators last year allowed the Secretary of State's Office to set a new time limit. The new limit, devised by a bipartisan task force, applies to election booths equipped with either manual or electronic voting machines.
People with disabilities - the vision-impaired or wheelchair-bound - are not held to the limit, which applies to all voting locations.
Chris Beall, a lawyer from Denver who is working with the Colorado Campaign for Change, said by telephone that he's not aware of consistent enforcement of the 15-minute rule. He said election judges apparently handle the situation according to circumstances.
"A sizable line is one thing, but it doesn't make sense to hustle someone for no reason," Beall said.
In Durango, there were 12 early voting booths in the hallway outside the clerk and recorder's office at the courthouse, 1060 East Second Ave. Voters who needed more than 15 minutes to complete the ballot could sit on a bench in the hall to finish, Ayers said. Voters using the electronic voting machines can't step away and return.
On Tuesday, each of 19 polling places in the county will have at least one electronic voting machine. The machines have an audio track for vision-impaired voters.
Ayers reminded voters that despite what they may have read in a Denver newspaper, La Plata County residents can't drop off a mail ballot at their precinct.
Mail ballots must be mailed or hand-carried to the clerk and recorder's office in Durango so that they arrive by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, she said.
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