Bill would give candidates a choice to assign their watcher of preference in recounts

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice

When the smoke began to clear in El Paso County’s House District 16 election in mid-November, Republican Rebecca Keltie had won election to the seat by seven votes.

Or, so it might have appeared. The margin was not beyond the state’s requirement for a mandatory recount, so Keltie was forced to sweat it out until Dec. 5 to be certified the winner, following a recount.

House Bill 25-1155, by Republican Rep. Mary Bradfield and Democrat Rep. Cecelia Espenoza, would give candidates like Keltie an added opportunity, should they become a candidate in a runoff.

“This is a simple bill,” Bradfield said. “In a recount, the candidates have an option of having their own watcher present.”

The bill was supported on second reading in the Colorado House Tuesday.

It would mean, she further explained, if the party assigned a watcher and the candidate prefers someone else, the candidate would have the authority to assign their watcher of preference.

“Allowing the candidate to have a say in their election is a big deal,” Keltie said, pointing out she had been in a runoff.

So had Republican Rep. Dan Woog, but he had a more comfortable 123-vote margin entering the runoff. They both won the runoffs and it eliminated the Democrats’ supermajority in the Colorado House.

The bill will need to clear approval on third reading in the House before advancing to the Colorado Senate, where it is sponsored by Republican Sen. Rod Pelton.