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Vote early; vote often! Aspenites vote twice?

Naomi Havlen
Aspen Times Staff Writer

The Pitkin County clerk is in the process of determining if Aspenites will vote twice on the Entrance to Aspen: once on the city’s ballot, and once for Pitkin County.

County Clerk Silvia Davis said she is conferring with the Colorado Secretary of State to decide whether the votes from city residents need to be consolidated or if they, in effect, vote twice on the same question ? once for the city tally and once for the county.

“It’s kind of a screwy situation,” said Davis. “They probably don’t encounter this very often.”



Identical advisory ballot questions about the configuration of Highway 82 at the west end of town are being placed on both Aspen and Pitkin County ballots on Nov. 5. The simply worded questions asks voters to choose between the highway’s current S-curves configuration or a “modified direct alignment” across the Marolt/Thomas property, otherwise known as the “straight shot.”

Pitkin County commissioners decided to put the question on the countywide ballot after the city council voted to poll its residents on the alignment issue. The county commissioners said they based their decision on the fact that many downvalley residents are commuters who are severely affected by traffic jams at the entrance to the city.




Davis is also preparing to place the county’s Entrance to Aspen question on this fall’s consolidated ballot in Snowmass Village. The town’s mayor, T. Michael Manchester, requested that it be added to his constituents’ fall ballot just before learning the county had agreed to place it on the ballot countywide.

“I think we’re all burned out on this Entrance to Aspen stuff,” he said. “But it’s a very important issue for the community, and this is what it’s all about. Now is the time to participate.”

Davis said Snowmass Village has never had a consolidated ballot before, which combines all state, county, and local questions on one form. She said it makes voting convenient for voters, but slightly more complicated for her office in creating the new layout for the form.