“Mesa County uses Dominion Voting System tabulation machines, but to make sure that the 2021 Coordinated Election was secure and accurate, the Board of County Commissioners asked for a hand count, a Clear Ballot audit, and an online ballot review tool,” said Mesa County Director of Elections Brandi Bantz.
“Both the hand count and the Clear Ballot audit show that the initial ballot count was accurate,” said Bantz. “These audits show that Mesa County ran an accurate, safe, and transparent election.”
“Both of these audits confirm the original count,” said 2021 Designated Election Official Wayne Williams. “The greater discrepancy is in the hand count versus the two machine counts, which illustrates once again that hand counting is less accurate.”
In many races, there was no difference between the Dominion and Clear Ballot counts. For the seven District 51 School Board candidates, four of the candidates received an identical number of votes. The difference for each of the other candidates was either one vote less or one vote more – a difference of less than a hundredth of a percent.
“Colorado law provides for an automatic recount in cases where the difference is one-half of a percent – more than 50 times the difference between the two counts,” noted Bantz. “The results from this additional audit absolutely shows that our citizens can rely on the accuracy of election results in Mesa County.”
The next project to be completed will place the ballots images online for everyone to see. Anyone who wants to count ballots on their own will be able to.
Mesa County has taken extra steps to ensure voter integrity by conducting multiple audits of the 2021 Coordinated Election results.
Have questions or need assistance? Please visit Mesa County Elections for additional voter registration and election information, or contact Mesa County Elections by phone at 970-244-1662.