With control of the state Senate hinging on a single race, all eyes remain on the Resolution Room at the Adams County Government Center in Brighton.
In Senate District 24, former Colorado Rep. Judy Solano, a Democrat, continues to close the lead held by Republican Beth Martinez Humenik. Results posted Friday at lunchtime showed Humenik still leading by 703 votes out of more than 47,500 counted.
If Humenik hangs on to win, Republicans will control the Senate with an 18-17 majority. Adams County officials say about 6,500 ballots remain, a number that keeps rising as out-of-town ballots, military ballots and responses from signature and ID cures trickle in.
Election judges in Brighton must also examine thousands of ballots by hand to determine voter intent, a process reminiscent of the Bush versus Gore race in Florida in 2000, minus hanging chads and a secretary of state in bad makeup. Along with the usual issues — coffee stains, bad erasures, postal damage, inability to bubble in circles — some voters chose to write in their choices for the Adams County surveyor post that no one ran for.
Writing someone in for surveyor may have seemed funny to some Adams County voters, but members of the General Assembly are not amused. They had to postpone Thursday’s traditional leadership elections because nobody knows which party will be leading which chamber.
In the last three days, Humenik’s advantage has diminished some 500 votes from about 1,200 on election night.
Democrats currently enjoy a 34-31 lead in the House, with Rep. Joe Salazar (HD-31) hanging on by 104 votes over Republican challenger Carol Beckler. In Arapahoe County, Democrat Rep. Daniel Kagan (HD-3) now has a solid hold on his seat, 430 votes ahead of Republican Candice Benge.
[…] County, but the GOP won key Front Range districts that turned over control of the state Senate. The outcome was still in doubt until Saturday morning as ballots were still being counted in Adams […]