Judge orders delay in ballot setting for June 26 primary

DENVER, April 25, 2018 -- A Denver District Court judge has ordered Secretary of State Wayne Williams to delay ballot certification until after a court hearing next Wednesday on whether attorney general candidate Brad Levin should make the ballot.

The secretary of state had planned to deliver the ballot order and content to county clerks by this Friday so they could prepare ballots for the June 26 primary election, but Judge Jay Grant ordered the delay.

Williams announced last Friday that Levin, who was required to gather 1,500 valid voter signatures from Democrats in each of the state's seven congressional districts, did not make the ballot. He fell short in five of the seven districts. Levin sued, arguing that valid signatures were disqualified.

Another District Court judge, Ross Buchanan, today accepted 40 signatures from gubernatorial candidate Doug Robinson. Those 40 signatures allowed Robinson to be placed on the GOP ballot; he initially had been declared insufficient.

In addition, the office is waiting to hear the fate of U.S. Congressman Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday he was off the ballot, but the six-term congressman sued today in U.S. District Court in Denver.

The Secretary of State's office will notify county clerks as soon as possible of the ballot order. The clerks have to design their ballots, place their ballot orders and mail or transmit them to overseas and military voters by May 12. June 4 is the first day that primary ballots may be mailed to in-state voters including, for the first time, unaffiliated voters.