Buescher responds to ballot certification deadline questions

Denver, September 2, 2010 – After repeated questions about the state’s ballot certification, Secretary of State Bernie Buescher issued the following statement:

“Despite various media reports and rumors, my office will continue to perform our ballot certification process, and we will certify the ballot content by 5:00p.m. on Friday, September 3,” Buescher said. “Because of our late primary and challenges associated with recent federal legislation, timelines are incredibly tight. My office and the clerks are already arranging ballots and preparing to print more than three million ballots by the September 18 deadline.

“Any last minute changes to the ballot after tomorrow’s deadline will need to be addressed on a county-by-county basis. Our clerks will do everything in their power to ensure an accurate ballot is sent to voters within the timelines being enforced by the Department of Justice and state law. Certainly, the waiver submitted by my office from the MOVE Act was going to act as a safety net for exactly this kind of scenario. Unfortunately, that safety net was denied and our new timeline barely leaves room to meet the federal mandate.”