Devastating floods in southwestern Colorado did not stop democracy.
On Monday morning, Nov. 9, a state-owned helicopter flew about 100 ballots over a landscape reshaped by recent flooding so they could be counted. The ballots belonged to Archuleta County residents whose access to voting had been threatened by flooding that swept through the area Nov. 1 — the second destructive flood in about a week.
Around Pagosa Springs, hundreds of homes were damaged, swamped with mud or even ripped from their foundation. Countless roadways became impassable, including vital U.S. 160, the highway that links the area to much of the state. But people were still able to vote, thanks to the work of two county clerks. They began planning as an ominous storm moved closer.
Ad:La Plata County Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Lee remembers looking back at the long history of voting in the U.S., with elections taking place during all kinds of turmoil.
“I kept thinking to myself, I would be damned if I’m going to let anything stop this election from going, no matter what we have to do to figure this out,” she said.
So Lee reached out to her clerk and recorder counterpart in neighboring Archuleta County, Kristy Archuleta (no relation to the county namesake).
“Hey girl, what can we do to help and get through this?” Lee asked.
Together, the clerks decided to move an Archuleta County voting center to the small town of Bayfield, southeast of Durango, in La Plata County. Lee used equipment and materials sent along on a Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management helicopter from Archuleta County. It was a complicated process to ensure the integrity of the trip.
“I had to give an oath to the pilot, so that way he could have my election equipment in his possession,” Archuleta said.
The ballots and the voting equipment were returned on another state helicopter, again with a pilot under oath. Bipartisan election judges were on either end. Neither clerk had ever done anything like this.
“I told Tiff yesterday, ‘This is pretty cool. I feel like such a nerd,’” Archueta said, with a laugh.
She does, in fact, own a T-shirt that says “ELECTION NERD.”
The helicopter transport was just one way the clerks were able to help get out the vote this year. Some residents across both counties who were stuck in their homes, but still had internet access, voted via emergency ballots available through a secure online portal.
Archuleta residents who weren’t able to drop off ballots in their home county — possibly because of evacuations — deposited their ballots in boxes across the state instead. Those ballots are still valid, and were also on Monday morning’s flight. Archuleta plans to post a video of the helicopter carrying the ballots touching down in Pagosa Springs. “Those are my ballots,” the caption reads, followed by heart emojis in red, white and blue.
For both clerks, this election has been a reminder of how important voting is.
Lee said people in her county have been “devastated” by the floods, so she saw it as her job to “make sure that nobody gets disenfranchised in any way.”
“This is completely out of their control,” she said.
Archuleta remembered one older couple she watched drop off their ballots at the voting center in Pagosa Springs. Because Archuleta grew up in the little mountain town, she knew this couple had lost their home. Still, as they walked up to the ballot drop box, they smiled.
“Their entire house went down the river, but they were there on Election Day dropping off their mail ballot,” she said. “That was great to see.”
Both clerks said every vote matters. Even though the ballots flown across two counties will not change the outcomes of any races, Lee stressed they still make a difference.
“Those ballots still need to be counted, and those voters still need to have their voice heard,” she said.
That’s true even during a disaster, or perhaps especially during one.
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