Dear Denver County Clerk,

I'm glad to hear that Governor Ritter made the executive decision to hold paper ballot elections next November, despite you and most of the state's County Clerks urging a mail-only election.

I'm still furious that my husband and I didn't get to vote in the last election. It was a mail-only election, only I didn't know that. I received the oversize ballots in the mail, I even opened them, but I didn't read them thoroughly and I threw them away. The night before the election, a neighbor told me that there would be no polling places. I subscribe to the Denver Post, I watch my local news, I listen to the radio, and I still missed the announcement that I better hold on to the mail ballot. What about all the people who don't do those things?

See, I believe that it's your job to make it easier for us to vote. It's not our job to make it easier for you to count the ballots.

It's not our fault that you bought some faulty machines, like, four years ago. It's not our fault that your IT team can't implement another solution. See, the rest of us live in a world where technology can do some amazing things, and 10 months is a realistic time frame to implement something that works to count our votes. It's easier to vote for American Idol than it is to vote for our President. Come on, if Idol can do it, don't you think you can too?

But that's not really the point. The point is this: technology cannot replace some things, and that's the right and the privilege to walk to our neighborhood school and yes, even stand in line, and go through the ritual of stepping behind a curtain and casting our votes.

So I'm real sorry that you're going to have a hard job come November, but don't you think you owe it to the people of Colorado to give us all a chance to vote?

Sincerely,
Liz