Colorado Counties to Exclude Ineligible Rail Measure Votes

Colorado election officials have directed Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Weld counties to ensure that only residents of the Front Range Passenger Rail District have votes counted on Issue 7A, after about 800,000 ballots mistakenly included the question. The district apologized, saying updated boundaries under a state law arrived on a compressed timeline and were not communicated through usual channels. Counties are expected to configure voting systems to exclude ineligible votes, and may review ballots by hand where eligible and ineligible voters share ballot configurations. Officials say the error should not invalidate affected ballots or prevent voters from voting on other races and measures, but have not said whether the extra steps could delay final results. Issue 7A asks eligible voters to approve a permanent 0.333% sales tax to fund expanded Front Range passenger rail service and authorize bond sales.