The El Paso County commission on Tuesday voted to fund a contract to print ballots for the upcoming primary and general elections after hours of passionate testimony opposing the company that will provide the ballots, concerns over conflict of interest and calls to improve election security generally. 

The commission voted 3-0 to approve $850,000 for ballot printing services through Runbeck Election Services, an Arizona-based company, after delaying it last week to explore concerns about conflict of interest.

City Councilman Wayne Williams, the former Secretary of State, serves as an advisor to the company and he is married to Commissioner Holly Williams, a relationship members of the crowd last week pointed out as a conflict. Commissioner Williams recused herself from the vote Tuesday after previously doing the same. 

Runbeck will provide less expensive ballots to El Paso County than other large counties such as Weld and Larimer receive, Clerk and Recorder Chuck Broerman said. The company also provides strict control of its ballot stock and any undeliverable ballots are returned the county – not the company. The county did not put out a competitive bid for ballot printing services because Runbeck had provided excellent services in the past, he said. 

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Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez expressed concerns about the contracting process prior to recusing himself from the vote after his fellow board member Carrie Geitner pointed out that Gonzalez is running against Wayne Williams for mayor. She told the crowd she wanted to make that potential conflict known. Geitner did not call for Gonzalez to recuse himself, and County Attorney Diana May advised that no members of the board present had a conflict of concern. But Gonzalez walked out anyway. 

“I am going to put myself above the fray, so nobody calls into question my integrity,” Gonzalez said, right before leaving the meeting. 

The commissioners who supported the contract defended the need to go forward with the ballot printing contract to a room of people who were generally skeptical of elections security. Some called for the contract for printing ballots to go back out to bid. However, county staff said delaying the contract to print ballots could put the county behind on important deadlines to send ballots overseas to military voters. 

“Sometimes it’s not just about who is in the room or who is the loudest,” Geitner said. 

Before leaving, Gonzalez keyed in on the lack of a competitive bid and a delay in the contracting process that left commissioners without time to ask for contract changes .  

“How is that the proper process if I am being told I have no choice but to vote ‘yes?'” he asked. 

Clerk and Recorder Chief Deputy Mary Bartelson said county staff thought it had sent the contract to Runbeck in January, but did not realize the company had not received it for three weeks, she said. The county was also slow in responding to some questions about prices because she was out of the office for a family emergency and that pushed back the timeline for approval. 

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Gonzalez proposed a solution that had also been backed by members of the crowd such as bifurcating the contract and asking Runbeck to print the ballots that need to be sent out early, then going back out to bid for the printing services for the remaining ballots. The county staff advised him that would not be allowable since the company did not agree to that ahead of time.

He also proposed voting down the contract to allow time to check with the company to see if the contract could be bifurcated. 

Broerman said the government contracting process typically takes three to four months and that kind of delay would not be workable because of the upcoming primary election in June. 

Ahead of the vote, residents expressed numerous doubts in the election process outside the contracting process with Runbeck. Residents called for a forensic audit of election results, a return to hand-counting ballots and a return to voting in person, among other measures to help restore faith in the process. 

“We are in a situation where we have a loss of trust by the people,” resident Denise Kmilek said. 

Broerman has made the images of ballots cast in El Paso County available online, and an independent audit showed no reason to believe the 2020 election results were rife with error in the county, he said previously. 

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A slate of candidates that have made election reforms part of their platforms — including coroner candidate Rae Ann Weber, clerk and recorder candidate Peter Lupia and county commission candidates Dave Winney and Lindsay Moore — also appeared at the event calling for change. 

Geitner told the crowd it would be violation of state law for the county to eliminate mail-in voting and suggested they testify for change at the state Legislature, where she has not seen the same type of passionate engagement. 

“We don’t have the type of outpouring that we had today where they can make changes on those concerns,” she said. 

The El Paso County commission on Tuesday voted to fund a contract to print ballots for the upcoming primary and general elections after hours of passionate testimony of opposition. Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez expressed concerns about the contracting process prior to recusing himself from the vote completely and eventually walking out of the meeting. (Courtesy: Office of the District Attorney, Fourth Judicial District of Colorado)