Ideas. Stories. Community.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Donate during KSJD's Spring Fund Drive and you could win a Super73 E-Bike! Click here to donate NOW.

Montezuma County Clerk: Conservation District Election Didn't Follow Correct Process

Austin Cope

Citing inaccurate voter lists from the Montezuma County Clerk’s office, the High Desert Conservation District has cancelled its mill levy election scheduled for May 8th. But Montezuma County Clerk Kim Percell tells KSJD the inaccuracies stemmed from the District’s failure to follow required timelines to submit election-related documents.

 

Percell says she has sent an official letter to the District relating to the matter. She says the District’s correct boundary information “was not readily available” to the county, which apparently caused county staff to miss names of eligible voters living within the District’s boundaries. A “very large” number of voters consequently did not receive their TABOR notice or ballots, according to a District statement. The clerk’s office provided a corrected list of voters on Monday, but on Tuesday, the District announced its plans to cancel the election.

 

District Manager Victoria Petersen-Lewis declined to comment further, citing potential impacts to the Mancos Conservation District election that is still underway. But she says she hopes to provide a more detailed response after next week.

Austin Cope is a former Morning Edition host for KSJD and now produces work on a freelance basis for the station. He grew up in Cortez and hosted a show on KSJD when he was 10 years old. After graduating from Montezuma-Cortez High School in 2010, he lived in Belgium, Ohio, Spain, northern Wyoming, and Himachal Pradesh, India before returning to the Cortez area. He has a degree in Politics from Oberlin College in Ohio.
Related Content