Between 800 and 1,000 votes will need to be counted on Wednesday, after dangerous road conditions lead ballots to be left in polling places.
Road closures in Routt County will prevent all ballots from being counted tonight, as ballots cast today in Yampa, Oak Creek and Hayden will be locked up with Town Clerks and picked up tomorrow, according to Routt County Clerk and Recorder Jenny Thomas.
Thomas told The Yampa Valley Bugle that they will have elections team in Hayden and Oak Creek count the ballots that they are leaving in those towns before they leave. The Yampa location is just a drop box, so those ballots will be left sealed in the drop box, Thomas said.
“At this point it is not safe for us to have our judges and staff bring that equipment back,” Thomas said. “The care of the ballots are going to be stored in the vaults of these town clerks. I have already spoken to them, they are going to secure it for us until we can get there in the morning.”
The ballot drop box located at the Clark Store in Clark was picked up by the Routt County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies are otherwise too busy responding to calls to pick up other boxes, Thomas said.
This means that Routt County will not have complete election night results on Tuesday, meaning that key races like Routt County Commissioner may not be decided tonight.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.