A Broomfield judge has upheld the results of the embattled Nov. 5 election.
Judge Chris Melonakis released his decision Thursday evening. In his decision, he said Broomfield acted in good faith when conducting the election and that the results should not be tossed out.
Melonakis pointed to confusing new voter residency requirements and the closeness of the election results as factors that contributed to the election chaos.
Though the election was far from perfect, it was not illegal, he said.
“The steps taken (by Broomfield) were a reasonable, if imperfect attempt to insure full extension of the franchise and prevention of voter fraud,” Melonakis said in his ruling.
Melonakis’ decision is the result of a challenge to the election brought by pro-fracking group Broomfield Balanced Energy Coalition and Tom Cave, a member of pro-fracking group It’s Our Broomfield, Too.
The Nov. 5 election has been mired in controversy since a five-year ban on fracking passed by just 20 votes. Melonakis’ decision means the ban remains in effect.
The ban, Question 300, was put on the ballot after grassroots group Our Broomfield collected enough signatures to have it appear. Our Broomfield has said more research must be done on the potential health impacts of fracking, and the five-year ban offers more time for that research to take place.
Plaintiffs in the election challenge case wanted Melonakis to declare that Question 300 did not pass because of numerous election flaws. BBEC now plans to pursue “legal and other means of preserving election integrity and constitutional rights in Broomfield,” according to a statement from BJ Nikkel, a spokeswoman for BBEC.
Broomfield, which wanted the judge to declare that the election results are valid, said the razor-thin outcome was the result of a close election, not flaws in the election.
Bill Tuthill, Broomfield’s city and county attorney, said the judge’s ruling underscores Broomfield’s effort to run a fair election.
“We said all along that there was no basis to overturn the results, and the court has agreed,” he said.
In a news release from Broomfield, officials said they now plan to update and improve their elections process. City officials had delayed the start of the elections assessment in order to wait for the outcome of the trial.
In the statement, Broomfield City and County Manager Charles Ozaki said that Broomfield now will move forward with hiring a “qualified, independent consultant to perform a comprehensive third-party assessment of its election procedures.”
When the assessment is completed, it will be presented to the City Council, he stated.
In the ruling, released Thursday evening, Melonakis said the election “was remarkably transparent,” even though the vote-counting process was described by several witnesses as “chaotic.”
Yet Nikkel said plaintiffs strongly disagree with the ruling.
“Obviously, we are disappointed and disagree with the court’s findings. We have a very different point of view of what transparency is and we don’t believe that this election was transparent,” she said in a statement.
“We had hoped that there would be consistency required of Broomfield election officials in counting ballots from county to county and within Broomfield itself.”
During the trial, plaintiffs argued Broomfield mishandled at least 20 ballots that were either counted illegally or not counted when they should have been. Some of those ballots in question include military and overseas ballots and ballot envelopes that were delivered from Adams County and were not counted because Broomfield did not receive the envelopes before the deadline of 7 p.m. Nov. 5.
During the trial, Broomfield admitted it had miscounted 10 ballots because of confusion over residency requirements.
Of those 10, three voters had not lived in Broomfield long enough to vote on Question 300, but their votes on the question were accidentally counted, he said.
Another six voters were eligible to vote on Question 300, but their votes were not counted because election workers believed they had not lived in Broomfield long enough.
An additional voter changed her name, but Broomfield did not update that information in time. Her vote was not counted because her signature did not match the name on the ballot.
The judge found that many of Broomfield’s chaotic vote-counting troubles came from confusing new voter registration laws, which changed in May after House Bill 1303 was passed.
Melonakis said the 1303 changes caused confusion over which Broomfield voters were allowed to vote on Question 300.
The 1303 rule change allows people who have lived in Colorado for just 22 days to vote in state elections. But Broomfield requires 30-day residency to vote on municipal questions, such as Question 300.
The two eligibility requirements made it hard for Broomfield election judges to determine if some voters were eligible to vote for both state and municipal ballot measures, Melonakis said.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office released a scathing report in November that criticized Broomfield for “improperly counting ballots cast by ineligible electors; and improperly rejecting ballots cast by eligible electors.”
Yet Melonakis said the Secretary of State’s Office report held little weight in court because the facts presented in the report were not presented during the trial.
Melonakis also said the Secretary of State’s Office did not provide adequate direction or guidance for Broomfield as it was trying to figure out how to implement new voter registration rules.
“Clearly, a standard plan was not available to the municipality since no rules had been timely promulgated by the secretary of state in sufficient time to plan the election and distribute ballots,” he wrote.
Melonakis ruled in Broomfield’s favor, but said the elections process was far from perfect.
He criticized Broomfield’s handling of the controversial “mystery box” or “anomaly box” of ballots, which was a box used to collect ballots deemed not countable in the election. The contents of the box were not publicly examined until January, and some voter advocacy groups said the box’s contents should have been accounted for during the election instead of being catalogued later on.
Melonakis called the handling of the box “sloppy and not the best practice,” but said it was not illegal.
Contact Staff Writer Megan Quinn at 303-410-2649 or quinnm@broomfieldenterprise.com.
