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We appreciate Routt County Clerk Kay Weinland's efforts to correct the election problems that occurred in November 2006. We think the formation of an Election Review Committee was the right step, and we agree with the committee's recommendations of more machines and more voting centers.

Still, we have to agree with Secretary of State Mike Coffman's decision to put Routt County on the Election Watch List. Until the county actually holds another election and does so successfully, we deserve to be on the list.

Coffman put the county on his watch list on April 4, angering Weinland and Commissioners Nancy Stahoviak and Diane Mitsch Bush. The county officials felt they had been misled by Coffman during a visit in March. They thought the steps they had implemented since last November's election should have been enough to keep the county off the list. They thought Coffman's staff implied it would be.

Finally, Mitsch Bush accused Coffman of making a purely political decision.

While we can understand the county officials' sentiment, it's hard to argue we don't belong on the list. Last fall's election did not go well. We watched it from the Pilot & Today building, where voters were still in line at 11 p.m., and many people gave up and went home or back to work because they weren't able to wait up to four hours to cast a ballot. There were not enough voting machines. There were not enough voting centers. And there was not enough familiarity with the new voting machines to address technological problems quickly.

An extremely long and complicated ballot made matters worse, but ultimately, the only fair assessment is that Routt County wasn't adequately prepared for Election Day 2006.

"I am extremely encouraged by the steps Clerk Weinland and other county officials have taken since November's election," Coffman said in adding Routt to his watch list. "I have confidence in Clerk Weinland's leadership, and I believe the problems Routt County voters faced last November will not be repeated. However, the fact remains that voters had to wait in lines for up to four hours. That is unacceptable and warrants inclusion on the watch list."

The other counties on the watch list include Denver, Douglas, Pueblo and Montrose. Pueblo and Montrose were found to have been in violation of election laws. That is not the case with Routt, Denver and Douglas counties.

Placement on the watch list is purely an intermediate step - there are no other penalties. It does, however, put the county on notice that it could face state supervision of its elections if things do not improve in 2008.

Mitsch Bush fears Coffman is trying to take political credit for election reforms implemented by local officials. But what of the flip side to that argument? Suppose Coffman left Routt County off the list and the 2006 problems reoccur in 2008? Wouldn't Coffman then be partially to blame?

We earned our spot on the watch list. Rather than arguing with Coffman, we should be focused on doing what has been promised - reducing the wait to vote to no more than 30 minutes. Do that in 2008, and the watch list will be a distant memory.