Pitkin County residents report missing ballots

Pitkin County and the United States Post Office grapple to locate missing ballots, which were sent over two weeks ago.

Pitkin County Strategic Communications Manager Alycin Bektesh said she understands the county clerk reached out to a federal United States Post Office agent to locate the missing ballots, but never received an explanation. 

“We don’t know any more than you do, except that all of our vendors sent out every ballot that they were directed to do so,” she said. “So the ballots have been sent.”

United States Postal Service Colorado Communications Specialist James Boxrud said they hadn’t heard from the county, but they would research the issue. 

“I’m on county clerk calls every day, and I have not heard Pitkin County speak up on that,” he said of the missing ballots. 

Pitkin County Clerk Ingrid Grueter could not be reached for an interview. 

Many of the missing ballots were reported out of Snowmass. Pitkin County Commissioner Patti Clapper said she was told  by Pitkin County Elections Specialist Jeff Limongelli that the county clerk’s office tracked the ballots to the Snowmass post office.

Regarding the rumored missing ballots in the Snowmass post office, mayoral candidate Alyssa Shenk said she wonders — if they are in the post office — why they’re not in residents’ post office mail boxes. 

“I would have to believe if they were there, that they would be put in the boxes,” she said. 

Snowmass resident Melissa Mosley, who is missing her ballot, said she was told by the Snowmass post office that a number of residents have inquired about missing ballots.

Mosley said she never had a problem with this in the past. 

“It could be a lot of things. Or it could be nothing,” she said of why ballots might be missing. “But in the present atmosphere of politics, it could be something nefarious.”

Shenk said her daughter and husband got their ballots in the mail, but she never received hers even though they share the same post office mail box. She tracked it online.

“It says (my) ballot has been mailed, and I never got it,” she said. 

She said she is holding out to see if she gets it via mail, but will vote in person on Nov. 5 if it never comes. 

Shenk added that she and Snowmass Town Council Candidate Cecily DeAngelo had been campaigning door-to-door throughout last week, and talked to numerous Snowmass residents who said they never received their ballots. 

She said she doesn’t think it has to do with where people live in Snowmass because residents have post office mail boxes.

“It’s not like one neighborhood does get it,” she said. “But I don’t know. There’s some level of confusion.”

Shenk said she also heard from Pitkin County commissioners that some Basalt residents had trouble mailing their ballots from the post office. 

Bektesh said in the past they’ve seen people have problems receiving their ballot if they moved and never updated their address with voter registration.

If missing a ballot, she encouraged county residents to either vote in person on Nov. 5 or ask the county for a replacement ballot at the Pitkin County Administration Building, 530 E. Main St.

Residents can also vote at Snowmass Village Town Hall, 130 Kearns Road, or the Basalt Library, 14 Midland Ave. More Pitkin County voting information can be found on https://www.pitkinvotes.com/2024-general-info.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.