In the course of unraveling why Montrose County had to resort to hand-counting more than 10,000 ballots during June’s primary election, the Daily Sentinel’s Erin McIntyre uncovered other troubling pieces of information that stand out in an era where “election integrity” has become a political buzzword.

One is that more than a third of Colorado’s counties used the same vendor that Montrose did – probably with no knowledge of the firm’s shady origins. That’s because county clerks are largely left to their own devices to find reputable and reliable vendors who print ballots.

Unlike California, Colorado doesn’t have an approved list of ballot vendors or require an inspection or review of ballot-printing companies for them to conduct business with counties.

Read more at The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.