Registration sets new record: Unaffiliated voters top the list; Dems edge GOP
from Vail Mountaineer

By Randy Wyrick, Mountaineer Staff Writer

The last chance for voter registration came and went Monday with 22,380 of us signed up in Eagle County, the most ever.

Of those, 9,103 are unaffiliated. Democrats, with 6,572, edged Republicans, 6,515 for the first time in recent memory.

Good for Dems
Local Democrats are pretty darned excited. “It’s OK to be partisan,” said local Democratic stalwart Debbie Marquez. “Our candidates have inspired people to join the party and Eagle County has been trending Democratic. It was purple in 2000 and light blue in 2004. Hopefully we can make it bright blue this year.”

Local Republicans were gracious, but pointed out that party affiliation in not the final factor. “We send our congratulations to the local Democrats. They’ve worked hard, but let’s not lose sight of the number. The vast majority of voters in Eagle County are unaffiliated, and that’s our target,” said local Republican party chairman Randy Milhoan.

Milhoan said several groups affiliated with Democrats have been blanketing the area registering voters as Democrats. “It stands to reason, “ Milhoan said. “Obama has had offices all over Colorado for months and Democratic-affiliated organizations have blanketed the state. We’ll be targeting those independent voters and we’re confident.”

Runaway registration
Voter registrations and requests for mail-in ballots have flooded the Eagle County Clerk and Recorder’s office. Monday, the last day to register for next month’s general election, saw more than 1,200 requests. The fax requests piled up six or seven inches high on Clerk and Recorder Teak Simonton’s desk. To keep up, her staff has been working from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. every day and several hours on weekends. They had the stack down to 50 mail ballot requests on Sunday. Then Monday hit, as did another avalanche of requests. “Monday was the busiest day in election offices since election day 2004,” Simonton said.

‘No one will be left out’
Monday was also the day mail-in ballots started finding their way to those requesting them. So far, 7,500 have been mailed, Simonton said, and the rest are due to go out soon. Voters have until Oct. 28 to request a mail-in ballot. Simonton suggested that if voters don’t vote by mail, they consider voting early to avoid what will certainly be long lines at the polls on Nov. 4.

To keep up with mail-in ballot requests, the Clerk and Recorder’s office is a little like The Little Engine That Could. They have five computers in the office in the Eagle County building in Eagle, and one in El Jebel. “When I comes to voting, no one will be left out,” said Simonton. “We’ll be just fine.”