Curry still has a pulse in state House District 61 race

Independent state lawmaker Kathleen Curry, a rare write-in incumbent, is still hopeful she won’t have to give up her seat in the state House to Democrat Roger Wilson, according to the website Real Aspen.

Real Aspen reports outgoing Secretary of State Bernie Buescher has asked a Denver District Court judge to delay a decision on Curry’s lawsuit challenging Buescher’s decision that voters had to write in Curry’s name as well as fill in the oval or box next to her name on the ballot. He asked for the delay till noon today while county clerks tabulate provisional ballot results.

On Wednesday, the unofficial count had Wilson with 9,495 votes, followed by Curry with 9,003 and 8,892 for Korkowski, who has already conceded. Buescher reportedly wants to see if the provisional ballots swing the election in favor of either Wilson or Curry. It’s more likely the race will come down to the judge’s decision and then a possible recount that Curry may be willing to pay for (to the tune of up to $20,000).

“The race could come down to a handful of votes,” Curry told Real Aspen Thursday. “What we were envisioning here is kind of a supplemental approach where we take these 1,900 or so additional ballots that haven’t been counted yet, the undervote ballots, and record what they say and add them to the totals we already have.”

Curry sued Buescher’s office to allow her name to actually appear on the ballot after he ruled she needed to be unaffiliated for a full year in order to have that happen. Curry, a three-term Democratic state rep who switched to independent late last year, lost that legal challenge.

House District 61 includes all or parts of Eagle, Garfield, Gunnison, Hinsdale and Pitkin counties, but Curry is mostly focused on a recount in Aspen.

“I have concerns about the count in one county and that would be Pitkin County,” she said. “And it’s not what the clerk did or didn’t do. I know they absolutely have good intentions. My understanding is there were mechanical problems separating ballots. I do have a fear that the initial count in Pitkin County may not be that reliable based on the input I’ve received.”

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