By Savannah Eller
The Gazette
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. —El Paso County has made use of its new partnership with the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management multiple times in recent weeks, as the county Clerk and Recorder’s Office called out hazardous-materials first responders to help clear concerning ballots.
El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker said that his office called the Colorado Springs Fire Department hazmat unit twice to clear ballots mailed in for the 2024 general election.
More than half of the active voters in El Paso County returned their ballots by the end of Sunday.
One ballot received Saturday had a small capsule attached that turned out to be a GPS tracker. Schleiker said his office was concerned about the capsule potentially being filled with a hazardous material prior to hazmat determining it was a tracker.
He said that the tracker was likely put on the ballot due to “misinformation,” but that the small change in thickness on the ballot shut down tabulation machines. The incident took about two hours to resolve.
“They want to track their ballot, but at the same time they are able to sit there and do that a number of different ways,” he said.
Another ballot mailed earlier was covered in urine, according to Schleiker. Previous elections have seen similar incidents with urine and blood. Those ballots, if filled out, must still be counted, he said.
Schleiker said Colorado Springs police were notified of the incidents and that the voters who tampered with their ballots have been issued summons for misdemeanors related to interfering with the election process.
Hazmat services are only part of the emergency preparedness response that the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management is coordinating for the election this year.
Meredith Nichols, PPROEM deputy director, has opened an emergency coordination center to bring up-to-date information to partner agencies, including area law enforcement and Colorado Springs Public Works.
A day out from the election, Nichols said Monday that things have been smooth sailing.
“We’re steady,” she said. “There hasn’t been anything major we need to push through.”
A major part of the response will be passive monitoring by law enforcement. She said that partner agencies — which include the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and Colorado Springs -area municipal police departments — are walking the “fine line” between ensuring election safety and avoiding the perception of intimidation at the polls.
“They won’t be right there the whole time,” she said.
Neighboring Pueblo County activated its Emergency Operations Center on Monday in anticipation of the election. The EOC, run through the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, opened a day earlier than usual for this presidential election, according to coordinator Joshua Johnson.
Even so, he stressed that the mid-level emergency coordination was just a precaution.
“As of right now, we have not heard of anything,” he said. “We are not expecting anything.”
The Teller County Sheriff’s Office announced in a joint news release on Oct. 31 with Teller County commissioners that additional deputies would be on patrol on Election Day.
“Their sole role will be to protect and preserve the peace of all Teller County’s residents and their property,” read the release.
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