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Routt County Clerk’s and Recorder’s Office open to voters Saturday

Tom Ross
Chuck McConnell
John F. Russell

— Routt County Clerk Kay Weinland alerted voters Friday to the fact that her office will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday to accept hand-delivered ballots for Tuesday’s primary and give out replacement ballots to registered voters.

Eligible voters who are not registered may change that status and declare affiliation by appearing in person at the Routt County Clerk and Recorder’s Office on Saturday and through Election Day. However, it is too late for affiliated voters to change party affiliation for the primary.

Also new this year, thanks to a new state law, Weinland said, voters from outside Steamboat Springs may drop off completed primary ballots through the end of the business day Tuesday at the Oak Creek, Yampa and Hayden town halls as well as at the Clark Store in North Routt.



That will be the case in all future elections, as well, Weinland said.

Here in Routt County, registered Republicans will be asked to choose between two former party chairmen and Steamboat residents, Dave Moloney and Chuck McConnell, in the race to see who will oppose state Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, D-Steamboat Springs, for the House District 26 seat.



Voters in Eagle County, the only other county in HD 26, will be asked to make the same choice.

Mitsch Bush defeated McConnell by about 2,700 votes to win her first term in the Legislature in 2012.

Moloney, who won the top line on the ballot at the district assembly in Denver in April with 29 delegates to McConnell’s 23, said Tuesday that he thinks the 6,000 unaffiliated voters in Routt County should reconsider.

“I think that people who are unaffiliated are actually giving up some choice by not affiliating with the party they think is closest to matching their point of view,” he said. “I’ve been out in the district with my message that we can do better than we have over the last two years.”

Moloney currently is promoting his campaign with a Facebook page.

McConnell said he took only a couple of months off from the campaign trail after his 2012 defeat against Mitsch Bush and then resumed strengthening his connections in both Routt and Eagle counties.

“I’m going to every organization I can go to that has a meeting where a candidate is welcome — both in Routt and Eagle counties,” McConnell said. “I put 8,000 miles on my vehicle in the last election, and I was able to make a lot of friends in Eagle County and in Routt County.”

McConnell’s contact information is at the top of his website, and he welcomes phone calls or emails.

To reach Tom Ross, call 970-871-4205, email tross@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @ThomasSRoss1


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