The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
However, town still waiting on mail-in ballots for final results
By Kendra Walker
Mt. Crested Butte held a special election on Tuesday, February 13 to determine whether to recall council member Roman Kolodziej from town council, and while the final results will not be shared until February 22, preliminary results indicate that Kolodziej will not be recalled.
Town clerk Tiffany O’Connell shared with the Crested Butte News on Wednesday that 227 ballots have been received and counted. However, the town is still waiting on mail-in ballots and overseas ballots before they can tally the final results.
“There are still some votes that need to be verified, however from those that have been verified, the results indicate councilmember Kolodziej will remain in office,” O’Connell said. “Exact breakdowns of votes will be released once all ballots have been counted and the election results have been certified.”
According to the Colorado Secretary of State website, “Mail ballots must be received by the county clerk and recorder no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day…Postmarks do not count; ballots must be in the hands of the county clerk by 7 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted.”
However, in Mt. Crested Butte’s case, O’Connell explained that “There was a printing discrepancy that caused the voter instructions to read different from the instruction on the ballot envelope. Due to this discrepancy, every vote that is postmarked on or before February 13, 2024 and in the clerk’s office by 5 p.m. on February 21st will be counted,” she said.
“One set of mail ballot instructions, which were on the security sleeve and intended only for overseas voters, informed recipients that those ballots postmarked by the 13th and received by the 21st would be counted. This contradicted the instructions on the ballot envelopes which stated all ballots must be received by 7p.m. on election day,” said O’Connell.
O’Connell said 1,001 ballots were sent out to registered voters, and there are approximately 30 overseas residents.
The town will share the final results on Thursday, February 22. If the final results change the outcome in favor of recalling Kolodziej, the town will also share the results of the second ballot question to decide his replacement. The four nominated candidates include Peter Esselstyn, Bruce Nation, Tom Rolleczek and Bobbie Sferra.
The Crested Butte News will share an update online once the final results are announced.
