Members of the El Paso County Commission on Tuesday were critical of a decision by Colorado College not to allow elections officials to use a location on campus as a polling place during the August. 10 primary.

 “It’s a large campus,” said Commissioner Wayne Williams following a commission meeting on Tuesday. “I can’t believe that every classroom will be occupied.”

In a presentation to commissioners, Elections Manager Liz Olson said Colorado College officials informed her that they had a conference scheduled on Aug. 10 and had no facilities available.  But the college will have space for the general election, she added.

It’s the second dust-up between county officials and the private liberal arts college over a voting issue. In 2008, County Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink, a Republican, came under fire from Democratic Party leaders for providing incorrect information to Colorado College about out-of-state students’ eligibility to vote.

Balink later issued a statement saying that the information provided by his office was a “misinterpretation” of state law.

Jane Turnis, director of communications for Colorado College, said the college has two spaces that have been used as polling place locations in the past. One will be used by a conference and the second space will be in the process of being cleaned up from another conference.

Turnis added that it may still be possible for the county to use the second space if crews can clean up the second area more quickly than they had planned. “If we can make that happen we’ll certainly do it,” she said.

Williams said the school’s inability to provide a suitable polling location demonstrates how “spurious” the charges against Balink were.

 “I guess I’m concerned about a college complaining about disenfranchising students,” he said. “Then when they have an opportunity to have a polling place on campus so that students can easily participate, they come up with an explanation that they don’t have a single place on the entire campus for a polling place.”

Commissioner Dennis Hisey agreed. “The clerk and recorder went out of his way to have a polling place on campus and now it’s inconvenient,” he said. “I don’t want to hear any complaints about how far the students have to walk to cast their votes.”

Most CC students will be gone after Aug. 6, the final day of summer classes, Turnis said. Classes won’t resume until September, well after the primary election, she said.

—Call the writer at 476-4825.

Mary Ellen McNally is going to be Grand Marshal of the St Patrick’s Parade March 13, 2010. She was photographed February 18, 2010. Linda Navarro, The Gazette Photo by