{"id":50758,"date":"2020-10-27T01:16:21","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T07:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/heres-why-24000-ballots-in-colorado-didnt-count-in-2016\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:53:13","slug":"heres-why-24000-ballots-in-colorado-didnt-count-in-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/heres-why-24000-ballots-in-colorado-didnt-count-in-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s why 24,000 ballots in Colorado didn\u2019t count in 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=e16fd818-d46d-4a12-bf64-17e67d0ab98d&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1051\" alt=\"\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>In the 2016 election, 24,189 Colorado voters cast ballots that did not count.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2020\/10\/26\/colorado-mail-ballots-rejected-explained\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">It\u2019s a small fraction<\/a> of the 2.7 million votes tallied \u2014 0.9% \u2014 but still a notable sum in a state that bills itself as one of the easiest places to vote.<\/p>\n<p>The most alarming number: nine out of every 10 ballots rejected could have counted if the voter fixed the mistake \u2014 what\u2019s known as curing a ballot.<\/p>\n<p>A Colorado Sun analysis of data on rejected ballots from the 2016 election \u2014 the first presidential election with a mail ballot system \u2014 found that 67% of those ballots didn\u2019t count because of a signature discrepancy. Another 11% of ballots rejected lacked a signature. The 2018 election found similar rates.<\/p>\n<p>The county clerks who run elections are required to notify voters about such mistakes and give them an opportunity to correct it, but many voters don\u2019t take the extra step. This year, voters can fix ballot mistakes via text message under an existing program expanded statewide by the Secretary of State\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>The remaining portion of rejected ballots cannot be corrected. In the vast majority of those cases \u2014 77% \u2014 the ballot arrived after 7 p.m. on Election Day. More than 2,000 ballots in 2016 were rejected for this reason, the Sun analysis found.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2020\/10\/26\/colorado-mail-ballots-rejected-explained\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Here are six graphics<\/a> that help explain why ballots are rejected and which voters are most affected.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_headline2-18\">Read more at The Colorado Sun<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, journalist-owned news outlet exploring issues of statewide interest. Sign up for a newsletter and read more at coloradosun.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_headline2-18\">Read more at The Colorado Sun<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rejected ballots disproportionately hit young voters, a Colorado Sun analysis shows<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,266,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-50758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-election","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87823,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50758\/revisions\/87823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50758"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=50758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}