Vanessa Jones, of Towaoc, drops off her ballot on Election Day at the Montezuma County Clerk and Recorder’s Office. (Jim Mimiaga/The Journal)
Vanessa Jones, of Towaoc, drops off her ballot on Election Day at the Montezuma County Clerk and Recorder’s Office. (Jim Mimiaga/The Journal)

Voters headed to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots before the 7 p.m. deadline.

In Montezuma County, voters in three districts faced at least one local ballot question, and all voters faced three statewide questions.

As of 4 p.m., 6,994 out of 18,892 mailed ballots had been returned, said Montezuma County Clerk and Recorder Kim Percell. She said 5,843 ballots had been counted so far.

Election Day typically sees a surge of voters who dropping off ballots. Tuesday, 1,263 ballots were returned, compared with 188 on a day last week.

Preliminary tally results were released at 7:30 p.m. Unofficial final results were released Tuesday evening after all ballots are counted, she said.

In montezuma County, 7,774 ballots were cast in Montezuma County out of 18,991 active voters, for a 40.94% turnout.

Voters in the Dolores and Montezuma-Cortez school districts will select school board members.

Voters in the Mancos Fire Protection District are being asked two tax-related questions.

Six seats are up for election on the Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 Board of Education, but only one is contested. In District E, voters will choose between Ed Rice and Tammy Hooten.

In the Dolores School District RE-4A, four candidates will vie for two director seats. The candidates are Heather Barritt, Casey McClellan, Jerry Whited and Lori Raney. The two candidates with the highest and second-highest votes will be elected to the board.

Voters in the Mancos Fire Protection District will decide two questions.

Measure 6A asks voters for a 6 mill property tax increase to upgrade firetrucks, purchase firefighter equipment, improve building infrastructure and fund operations.
Question 6B asks voters of the Mancos Fire Protection District to allow the district to increase or decrease the mill levy to keep revenues at a set amount if there are changes in the method the state calculates assessed valuations of property.

All voters in Montezuma County will face three statewide ballot questions. Amendment 78 relates to legislative authority for spending state money. Proposition 119 relates to a learning enrichment and academic progress program. Proposition 120 relates to a property tax assessment rate reduction.

New voting equipment has improved the signature verification process, Percell said.

During the vote tally, the ballot signature is recorded digitally and is shown on a computer screen next to the signature on record for comparison by election judges.

Before, judges held up the physical ballot next to a screen that shows the signature on record.

Turnout in the region

As of 9:45 p.m., voter turnout varied in Southwest Colorado, from a high of 48.87% in Dolores County, to 42.31% in La Plata County, to 40.94% in Montezuma County.

Voters in La Plata County elected Erika Brown, Richard Petersen and Andrea Parmenter to serve four-year terms on the Durango School District 9-R Board of Education.

The candidates won a decisive victory over three candidates who ran as a block, including Kristina Paslay, Richard “Dean” Hill and Donna Gulec. The so-called “Building Durango’s Future” group took aim at the district’s declining test scores and opposed a mask-wearing mandate that was adopted earlier this year as part of the dress code. The candidates shared a website and advertising materials.

Voters in Dolores County voted to approve Ballot Issue 5A, which extended the 2022 expiration date for taxes approved in 2015 to protect funding to attract teachers and staff, support and expand opportunities for students through updated technology and textbooks, maintain district facilities. Issue 5A passed 482 to 323, or 60% to 40%.
Dolores County School District RE-2J Ballot Issue 5B was defeated. Issue 5B would have allowed the district debt to be increased $15.95 million, with a repayment cost of up to $23.9 million to replace the Seventh Street Elementary School in Dove Creek, improve student pickup and dropoff areas and address renovations and improvements to district facilities. Issue 5B was defeated 459 to 345, or 57% to 43%.

Statewide, turnout was 29.09%, according to the Colorado Secretary of State.

Reporter Christian Burney of The Durango Herald contributed to this report.