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Denver Just Legalized Weed
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Nitrous_N2O replied on Wed Nov 2, 2005 @ 1:23pm |
 Coolness: 125385 | Mishaps cloud state election
By Collegian staff and APWire reports November 02, 2005 DENVER - Pot, taxes and a series of polling problems punctuated Colorado's Election Day. Denver residents legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, capping a sometimes-bitter campaign rife with allegations of misleading voters and exploiting their fears of violent crime. The Denver marijuana measure passed by a reasonable margine; with 97 percent of precincts reporting, 53 percent, of 55,035 voters, cast ballots for the measure, while 47 percent, or 47,929 voters, voted against it. Some supporters hoped the Denver proposal would launch a national trend toward legalizing a drug whose enforcement they believe causes more problems than it cures. "What this does say is reconsidering marijuana prohibition is absolutely a mainstream issue now," said Bruce Mirken of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project. In El Paso County, an unexpectedly high voter turnout - purportedly drawn by hot-button Referendums C and D - left dozens of polling stations in El Paso County out of ballots until sheriff's deputies delivered more. Some frustrated, would-be voters left during the wait, officials said. El Paso County, the home of Taxpayers' Bill of Rights father Douglas Bruce - who is a county commissioner there - is a heavily Republican county was seen as a key for opponents of two statewide measures on the ballot asking voters to give up billions of dollars in tax refunds for the next five years. Everyone standing in line at the time polls closed at 7 p.m. were allowed to vote, but some voters may have left out of frustration, clerk and recorder Bob Balink said. He said about 80 of 385 precincts were affected. County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Clif Northam said about eight deputies were called in to deliver ballots to polling stations around the county. He did not know how many polling places needed the ballots. At 8:30 p.m., deputies were still being dispatched to a polling center near Peyton, where precinct workers were told to keep the doors open. A woman who answered the phone at Peyton Elementary said several people were still waiting to vote at 9:30 p.m. She refused to give her name. "We still have a few who are waiting," she said. Balink said more voters turned out than expected, catching some precincts "by surprise." He said people who showed their identification were given a card and told not to leave, though some did. He said those who left and returned were asked to prove their identity to prevent voters from giving the cards to others. "They shouldn't have left," Balink said. Jon Caldara, leader of the opposition group "Vote No; It's Your Dough," said the lapses were inexcusable and threatened legal action. "You can't leave polling places open past closing. You can't do that," he said. "They just wanted to get more supporters to the polls." Dana Williams, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Gigi Dennis, said her office advised Balink to pass out sample ballots to use for real ballots, and to print copies of ballots, if necessary. "We told him to do everything to avoid turning people away," she said. A voting machine also failed in tiny Mineral County, meaning the results of some 400 votes will not be known until later Wednesday, clerk and recorder Gea Wyley said. "We had a mechanical problem with our counter. I'm borrowing another one from another county," she said. Williams said some problem were reported in Arapahoe County, where some voters did not get their ballots by mail for the mail-in ballot. She said clerk and recorder Nancy Doty notified voters to go to branch offices to cast their ballots. |
Denver Just Legalized Weed
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