Secretary of State Jena Griswold has appointed Teak Simonton to supervise the general election in Pueblo County, citing numerous errors by the county’s Democratic clerk, Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz.

Simonton is a professional election administrator, according to a news release from the Griswold’s office. He begins his duties Monday.

Simonton is the former clerk and recorder for Eagle County. He served as an election supervisor for Mesa County in 2020 and provided support in Alamosa County in 2021 and 2022.

The decision to appoint a supervisor follows “multiple mistakes by the Democratic Clerk and Recorder and his Office during the Primary, which resulted in voter confusion and the need to distribute replacement ballots to thousands of Pueblo voters,” the news release said.

Errors made during the primary included sending ballots with the incorrect state House race to voters in Pueblo County’s Precinct 209. The Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder’s Office also omitted the County Commissioner District 3 race from a substantial number of ballots mailed to voters in Pueblo, also during the primary.

On Friday, the clerk notified the Department of State of a misprint on the general election ballots for the county.

That error included a tear-off tab at the top of the ballot that says “Official Primary Election Ballot,” even though the rest of the ballot makes clear that it is actually the ballot for the General Election.

However, the misprint on the tear-off tab does not affect the legal validity of the ballot, and there is not enough time to print new ballots, so Pueblo voters will receive those ballots. They are due to start going out in the mail Monday.

Simonton will be on site throughout the election to assist Pueblo County in mitigating and preventing any other errors, Griswold’s office said. The supervisor is authorized to monitor the activities of the office’s elections staff and is there to help the County meet its duties and obligations under state and federal law. 

Ortiz has been the clerk and recorder for Pueblo County since winning his first election in 2006. He lost his bid for a fifth term in the June primary.

Earlier this year, Griswold appointed elections supervisors for Mesa County for the June 28 primary, after Republican Clerk Tina Peters compromised her county’s voting equipment, the news release said.

In May, a Mesa County district court judge barred Peters from overseeing the November general election. Judge Valerie Robson appointed Brandi Bantz, the county’s elections director, to oversee the election.

Griswold also appointed election supervisors in Elbert County for the primary, after Republican clerk Dallas Schroeder, who is running unopposed for county commissioner, violated Colorado Elections Rules by giving unauthorized individuals copies of images of the county’s voting system hard drives.