Election Day

Marijuana: Boulder official calls for dual licenses on pot shops

We recently wrote about the debate at the governor's marijuana task force regarding the licensing of retail pot shots. Sparking some controversy, at least one task force member wants to see a state agency own and operate all commercial establishments. We now have a copy of a letter from Boulder of ... More >>

Scott Gessler grilled at Capitol about immigrant letters, website glitches

At the Capitol yesterday, Secretary of State Scott Gessler had lots to discuss at a State Affairs briefing -- but only a few minutes into his presentation, he was interrupted by critical questions from lawmakers. The immediate criticisms, which were put on hold until after he finished his prepared r ... More >>

Scott Gessler is always right...right?

Marijuana: Commercial pot shops prohibited in Douglas County as others consider bans

As of December 26, "retail marijuana stores" are officially prohibited in Douglas County. That means that six weeks after the legalization of recreational marijuana, any commercial activities involving pot are banned in DougCo. The county is the first in Colorado to enact this kind of ordinance -- a ... More >>

Year in Review: The strangest people and events of 2012

See also: Year in Review: The 2012 Hall of Shame

Amendment 64: Will pot discourage companies abroad from expanding to Colorado?

As a senior partner with a Colorado law firm, Dick Clark works with international companies looking to expand their operations here. But since the passage of Amendment 64, which legalizes small amounts of recreational marijuana, some companies are reconsidering doing business with Colorado,he says, ... More >>

Scott Gessler responds to ethics complaint with new details on death threats, his spending

On Wednesday, we reported on a disturbing phone call made to Secretary of State Scott Gessler, in which a man said he knew where the Republican lived and wanted to kill him. We now have information about a second violent threat -- specific details of which are outlined in Gessler's formal response t ... More >>

Marijuana: Task force addiction expert warns about parties, cartoon ads, thirdhand smoke

In order to address the many questions of marijuana legalization, Governor John Hickenlooper assembled a 24-member task force charged with developing policy recommendations. The addiction expert is Dr. Christian Thurstone, who says his goal is to limit the harm A64 could cause youth. We caught up wi ... More >>

Scott Gessler death threats: Man says he wants to shoot the Secretary, knows where he lives

Secretary of State Scott Gessler has faced a lot of pushback for his efforts to identify immigrants who are illegally on Colorado's voter rolls. But over the summer, those criticisms escalated to a new level when he received multiple violent threats, some targeting his family. Through an Open Record ... More >>

Amendment 64 is now law: Governor John Hickenlooper quietly signs measure

Ever since voters approved Amendment 64, Governor John Hickenlooper's office has been evasive about saying when he would ink the measure. But this morning, he quietly signed A64 into law -- an action followed by a strangely worded announcement on view below.

Scott Gessler says Boulder election results not certified yet, city says they are

Yesterday, the Boulder County Clerk's office announced that its election results are finally certified. However, a spokesman for Secretary of State Scott Gessler says just the opposite -- a final decision has not been made yet, although one could come soon. The conflicting statements have further i ... More >>

Boulder election results not certified by canvass board -- only county rejection in Colorado

Election day may seem like a fading memory in Colorado. But the divisiveness of the race is alive in Boulder County, where members of the canvass board has refused to certify the results, arguing that there were many problems -- including dozens of precincts where they say more votes were counted th ... More >>

Scott Gessler says he's innocent as Ethics Commission begins investigation

Amid the chaos of election-day preparation this week, news broke that Secretary of State Scott Gessler, Colorado's chief election officer, is facing both criminal and ethics investigations for allegedly misusing public dollars for personal trips. We now have more details on the process of the Indepe ... More >>

Ed Perlmutter camp highlights "fishy" mailer from CoorsTek, former Joe Coors company

As President Obama and Mitt Romney argue about who is a better job-creator, a heated congressional race between incumbent Ed Perlmutter and challenger Joe Coors has also zeroed in on jobs and alleged outsourcing. The latest tiff centers on a mailer from a former Coors company that Perlmutter's team ... More >>

Jill Biden in Colorado: "Nine days left -- I'm sure all of you are just as happy as I am"

It's the final countdown to Election Day and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, is looking toward the finish line. At a campaign stop at an Obama field office in Lakewood last night, the Second Lady pushed the reelection of the Obama-Biden team as the right choice for women, veterans, stu ... More >>

Michael Hancock: Scott Gessler's actions similar to nationwide voter-suppression efforts

Even though Mayor Michael Hancock says he likes to give people the benefit of the doubt, he believes Secretary of State Scott Gessler's actions echo a concerted nationwide effort to suppress votes. The mayor weighed in on this topic last week, and while he declined to directly slam Gessler, he still ... More >>

Scott Gessler's office shares evidence of voter fraud in Colorado

Secretary of State Scott Gessler has gotten a lot of attention for his effort to weed out illegal voters and frequent clashes with voter rights advocacy groups that complain he is devoting too much time to a wild goose chase. Here, we take you behind the scenes at Gessler's office, where his staff ... More >>

Out of fourteen illegal voters banned after Scott Gessler's campaign, how many voted? Zero

Update: Yesterday, we reported that a total of fourteen people were removed from Colorado voting rolls following an extensive effort by Secretary of State Scott Gessler to potentially illegal voters; see our original post in its entirety below. Since sharing these results, we checked with Gessler's ... More >>

Photos: Michelle Obama tells Castle Rock crowd why she fell in love with Barack

In the final weeks of the election, one thing is clear: A very small margin of voters will ultimately determine the victor in Colorado, which has become one of the most important battleground states in the country. That was part of the message from First Lady Michelle Obama, who rallied voters yeste ... More >>

Photos: Hate, love, chaos and spin before and after Denver debate 2012

Last night's presidential debate was a long time in the making for both the city and the University of Denver, and proponents of both sides are still weighing the results of the candidates' coal-loving, Big Bird-cutting, anniversary-celebrating round-about on domestic policy. Here, we take you insid ... More >>

Mike Coffman jumps on opponent for skipping debate, Joe Miklosi says he never RSVP'd

Now who's hiding from voters! That's part of the message from campaigners for Representative Mike Coffman, who is criticizing challenger Joe Miklosi for not attending a congressional debate on Monday. The attack comes after opponents' accusations that Coffman is unavailable to constituents. But Mi ... More >>

Scott Gessler office's latest glitch: 800 voters who recently registered may not be

Critics of Secretary of State Scott Gessler argue that he spends more time intimidating and suppressing voters than he does registering them. Though Gessler has always denied those claims, he admitted yesterday that nearly 800 voters who legally registered may not have been put into the system due t ... More >>

Scott Gessler, two county clerks targeted with lawsuit over "election from hell"

The "election from hell." A "COLOSSAL problem." A "stunning level of incompetence." These are all phrases used to describe a primary race in Teller and Douglas counties that was allegedly so disastrous that one of the candidates, in a new lawsuit, is arguing that the election should be voided. F ... More >>

Red or blue, all eyes are on Colorado this election

Scott Gessler adopts emergency rule to prevent ballots from being traced to voters

After a voter advocacy group offered proof that county clerks and other election officials could identify how specific people voted -- which would violate a citizen's basic right to a secret ballot -- Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler announced an "emergency rule" effective immediately that ... More >>

Photos: Jesse Williams, John Cho promote Obama in Colorado

Marking one hundred days before Election Day, Barack Obama's campaign held thousands of events across the country on Saturday, asking supporters to take at least one action for the President through an initiative called "It Takes One." As part of that effort, his Colorado team brought not one, but t ... More >>

Pro-Romney group launches major Colorado ad blitz attacking Obama

Correction: A previous version of this post referred to Crossroads GPS as a super PAC, when Crossroads GPS is in fact a nonprofit group that is a sister organization to American Crossroads, a Republican super PAC. They didn't waste any time. Just hours after the latest unemployment statistics came o ... More >>

Mark Udall wind-tax-credit plan: Address Senate every day 'til he gets it

This could get tiring. Senator Mark Udall has announced that he will head to the Senate floor every day to push the same piece of legislation -- the Wind Production Tax Credit -- until Congress responds and passes it. That means speech after speech after speech on the same issue, until, you kno ... More >>

Michael Hancock campaign sprinting toward the finish line in mayor's race vs. Chris Romer

Michael Hancock.​Update: A short time ago, we published a look at the Chris Romer campaign's election day strategy in the Denver mayor's race that pits him against Michael Hancock. The Hancock crew's take? Amber Miller, spokeswoman for the perceived frontrunner, offered the following takes on ... More >>

Fantasy Voter Fraud

"Marriage is so gay" T-shirt: Colorado Springs' Falcon High School drops ban after ACLU letter

Large photo below.​Update: Well, that didn't take long. Only hours after the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to an El Paso County school district demanding that Falcon High School student Kate Cohn be allowed to wear a T-shirt that reads "marriage is so gay," the principal who ori ... More >>

Dan Maes's last-minute campaign blitz: Honking, waving

Dan Maes.​Yesterday, Dan Maes's campaign sent out a release announcing that he and "supporters" would be waving to passers-by at Eighth Avenue and Speer beginning at 4 p.m. -- a pledge he kinda exceeded, kinda didn't. When I drove past the spot at five minutes before 4, he was already there, h ... More >>

Don't have an "I Voted" sticker? No problem: Vote in our poll to predict election winners

Congratulations.​Sick of seeing all those "I Voted" stickers being smugly worn by civic do-gooders? Well, if you didn't vote -- or even if you did -- take a stab at our Westword Predictometer 2000, in which we're asking readers to predict who they think will win (not who you voted for) on this ... More >>

Michael Bennet the next Al Franken?: Read Republican Party chair Michael Steele's op-ed

Michael Steele.​Michael Bennet's camp knows turnout will decide if he retains his Senate seat or loses it to Ken Buck -- and so does Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele. In conjunction with the launch of NoMoreFrankens.com, a website using the SNL performer turned Minnesota s ... More >>

Denver election guide introduces judges to voters: Kenny Be's Worst-Case Scenario

Judges Schmalberger, Barajas and Celeste want you to judge them fairly.​ After the Election Day stress of choosing the least objectionable candidate and making sense of the Amendments, voters are asked to decide upon the retention of a mysterious list of unknown State, District and County judg ... More >>