Only 4,000 ballots have been cast since robocalls were unleashed Thursday from Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office to about three million Coloradans urging them to cast their votes before the Tuesday deadline.
The robocall cost taxpayers $50,000 and has caused confusion among voters who are getting the calls, despite having already turned in their ballots.
So far, Griswold’s questionable spending spree has cost about twelve bucks per vote.
Channel 7 reported on Sunday that turnout was lounging at 17% with about 654,000 ballots returned from the state’s nearly 4 million voters. That number stood at roughly 650,000 before the robocall rollout.
Of the ballots returned, 29% have come from registered Democrats, 32% have come from registered Republicans, and nearly 38% have come from unaffiliated voters. Interestingly, when compared with the percentages of each group’s share of the overall electorate, it shows both Republicans and Democrats slightly outperforming their overall shares, and unaffiliated voters underperforming so far.
Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, told the Durango Herald he’s been hearing from clerks the calls are creating confusion.
“It appears that people who cast their ballots some time ago are receiving this message. We’ve had clerks who returned their ballots or clerks’ family members who have returned their ballots a week or so if not more ago, and they’ve gotten the calls.”
“The last thing that we want to see happen is voter confusion created around that messaging,” he said. “We know that, ultimately, this is going to fall mostly on the clerks who have to take the phone calls from angry citizens.”
PeakNation™ will recall Griswold’s questionable political spending habits caused controversy last year when she dropped $1 million in taxpayer funds just weeks before her reelection to prattle on about voting conspiracy theories.
The ad also featured Republican Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, who subsequently lost his election bid for mayor of Colorado Springs.
The Democrat Griswold, however, was reelected once again to be in charge of the state’s elections.