Election supervisor appointed after Colorado clerk’s blunder

DENVER — Colorado’s secretary of state appointed a supervisor Monday to oversee the November elections in Pueblo County for the second time this year after the clerk’s office made a number of blunders, including a misprint identifying the general election ballot as “Official Primary Election Ballot.”

Secretary of State Jena Griswold previously assigned an election supervisor to the county for the June party primaries after Democratic Clerk Gilbert Ortiz’s office mailed some ballots with an incorrect state house race and omitted a county commissioner race from a “substantial” number of ballots sent to Pueblo voters.

The mishaps “resulted in voter confusion and the need to distribute replacement ballots to thousands of Pueblo voters,” the Secretary of State’s Office said in a news release.

Griswold appointed Teak Simonton, whom she described as a professional election administrator, to monitor Ortiz’s office for the 2022 general election.

“Every eligible Coloradan — Republican, Democrat, and Unaffiliated alike — has the right to cast a ballot in accessible and secure elections. That’s why I am taking action to appoint an Election Supervisor in Pueblo County,” said Griswold in a news release.