Colorado Democrats are conducting a mail-ballot vote this month to decide whether to conclude an unfinished election for a statewide vice chair position by awarding posts to the top three finalists.

The post of 2nd vice chair has gone unfilled since last month’s party reorganization meeting when none of the candidates won a majority of the vote after multiple rounds of balloting.

Democratic Party state chair Morgan Carroll — who won election at the March 11 meeting — is asking members of the central committee members to OK a proposal to declare that the top finisher, former Arapahoe County Democratic Party Chair Pat Shaver, has been elected to the post, while granting Carroll authority to appoint the two remaining candidates — former Democratic National Committeeman Mannie Rodriguez and former Bernie Sanders campaign staffer Miguel Ceballos— as co-deputy 2nd vice chairs.

The three candidates have signed off on the plan, party officials said.

State central committee members have until May 5 to return ballots, which went out in the mail this week.

The election for 2nd vice chair was one of two left unresolved at the Democrats’ state reorganization meeting in Denver. The other, for 1st vice chair, appeared to be tied after an initial vote, but party officials declared David Sabados, a Denver-based political consultant and president of the Colorado Young Democrats, the winner by a single vote two days later after a ballot cast in the election was ruled ineligible. Sabados prevailed over Larimer County organizer and former union leader Gil Barela for the position, which includes a seat on the Democratic National Committee.

But the contest for 2nd vice chair has remained in limbo for more than a month as party officials and the candidates have discussed how to resolve it. (Former Otero County Democratic Party Chair Terrance Hestand also ran for the office, which is primarily responsible for outreach to various Democratic Party constituencies, but dropped out after the first two inconclusive rounds of voting.)

While Shaver led through the afternoon in first one round of balloting, then the next, and then a third, her vote total didn’t reach 50-percent-plus-one. State party rules don’t require any candidates to drop out for subsequent rounds of balloting, although some Democrats have suggested that’s a rules change that might make sense.

The election went without a hiccup for the other three statewide Democratic offices determined at the biennial meeting: Carroll, a former Senate president and congressional candidate, won the chair position in a landslide; party secretary Martelle Daniels, who was unopposed, won reelection by acclamation to a second term; and Rita Simas won over Kathleen Ricker for treasurer in a two-candidate race. The state party chair posts all carry two-year terms.

State Republicans picked officers at the GOP’s reorganization meeting on April 1 at Englewood High School, where former El Paso County Republican Party chair Jeff Hays won decisively over former congressional candidate George Athanasopoulos in the state chair race. Colorado Springs organizer Sherrie Gibson was elected vice chair over Mesa County activist Kevin McCarney for vice chair, and former Moffatt County GOP chair Brandi Meek ran unopposed for a second term as state party secretary.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com