• planetc1

Remember when there were breaks between election seasons? Take a moment to reminisce, because that's certainly not the case anymore.

Bill Elder just became the latest person seeking county office to declare ... for the November 2014 election. Elder is running for sheriff, a position that will be vacated by the term-limited Terry Maketa in January 2015.

Read on to learn more about this candidate ... well, well in advance.

Pledging to Bring a Regional Approach to El Paso County
Law Enforcement, Bill Elder Formally Announces
He Will Run For El Paso County Sheriff

Colorado Springs — Bill Elder, currently the Deputy Chief of Police for the City of Fountain, Colorado announced today that he plans to seek the office of Sheriff for El Paso County in 2014. Terry Maketa who is term limited in 2014 currently holds the position.

Elder, with 20 years of law enforcement experience, has served at the staff level for 3 of the largest law enforcement agencies in El Paso County including the office of the El Paso County Sheriff, the City of Colorado Springs, and the City of Fountain. He has held several positions including Deputy Chief and Commander and has critical experience in communications, investigations, patrol, metro vice and narcotics, and intelligence.

As Sheriff, Elder plans to develop a strong team, made up of experienced police managers to work closely with community leaders to provide bold, innovative, and fiscally conservative leadership. Personal responsibility, accountability and transparency, protection of individual freedoms and property rights are core principles that Bill Elder will invoke as the chief law enforcement officer in our community.

“I plan to lead by example,” stated Bill Elder “and to adopt fiscally conservative policies while ensuring the health, safety, and welfare of our citizens.”

Running on a platform that states collaboration and cooperation as a pillar Elder and his team will work to bring a regional approach to public safety working with other law enforcement agencies to eliminate the duplication of services in our community.

“ Working with our peer agencies in the region is the fiscally responsible thing to do. I understand that the use of taxpayer dollars is not a right simply granted,” Elder said “we owe it to our citizens to be as effective, efficient, and as innovative as possible.”

Bill Elder lives in Colorado Springs, and is a registered Republican.

For more information see www.elder4sheriff.com.

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• Bernie Herpin

Herpin already has two opponents in the race, Rev. Al Loma and nonprofit administrator Jill Gaebler.

Herpin was an appointed City Councilor from 2006 to 2007. He was elected to represent District 4 in 2009. As one of the longer-serving Councilors, Herpin has developed understanding of processes at the city and Colorado Springs Utilities.

The Councilor has at times stood with Mayor Steve Bach. This year, for instance, Herpin supported the mayor's budget and approved a downtown ban on solicitation that Bach advocated.

But Herpin has also opposed actions advocated by the mayor. For instance, thus far, Herpin has supported installation of Neumann Systems technology at the Martin Drake Power Plant, which the mayor staunchly opposes.

Here's the release:

Bernie Herpin Announces Reelection Bid for Colorado Springs City Council

Colorado Springs, December 3, 2012 — Colorado Springs City Council Member Bernie Herpin announced today that he will seek reelection to the Council as the representative for the newly created District 5.

Herpin was elected to the council as the representative for District 4 in 2009. He had previously served as an atlarge member in 2006 — 2007.

Councilman Herpin and his wife of 47 years have lived in District 5 for more than 32 years. They raised three daughters in the district since returning to Colorado Springs in 1980 having left the area in 1965 when he enlisted in the US Navy. Bernie retired from military service in 1985.

A volunteer with the Colorado Springs Police Department for more than 25 years, Councilman Herpin has made public safety his first priority. “I was very pleased to support Mayor Bach’s 2013 city budget which includes increased police and fire staffing,” Herpin stated.

Councilman Herpin pointed to the approval of the Southern Delivery System, which will help provide water to Colorado Springs for the next 50 years, and the leasing of Memorial Health Systems to University Colorado Health as two major accomplishments during his time on council. “Council was faced with making some very difficult decisions during 2009 and 2010 due to the downturn in the economy to keep our budget balanced and to maintain essential services,” Herpin stated. “It is great to see many services being restored in 2013,” Herpin added.

Councilman Herpin looks forward to working with Mayor Bach and fellow council members as the city faces new challenges in the next few years. “We do not yet know what the impact will be should the Federal sequestration occur, but the impact on the Defense budget could result in reduced military spending in our community.”

Herpin brings nearly 5 years of council experience as well as experience gained in the armed forces and as a defense contractor for over 25 years. He serves as a Regional Building Department commissioner as the council representative and as the council’s ex officio member on the Regional Business Alliance’s Military Advisory Council. Herpin has also served on several city, county, and state boards and commissions.

Councilman Herpin has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and a M.A. in Computer Resource Management. The Herpins have three daughters and six grandchildren.

Mr. Herpin’s website is www.bernie4council.com.

• Tim Leigh

Leigh has been a strong supporter of Mayor Steve Bach and a strong opponent of Neumann Technologies, maker of pollution-control technology that Colorado Springs Utilities has contracted to use. An avid cyclist, he's led a campaign to encourage cars to share the road.

But Leigh, who has held an at-large seat since April 2011, has often been dismissive of members of the public who address City Council, often screaming "Point of order!" repeatedly when a member of the public speaks for longer than three minutes. He has also managed to miss both e-town hall budget meetings during his term. (The meetings are often the best-attended Council meetings of the year, and are intended to give the public a chance to give input on how their money is spent.) Leigh has said openly that public comments don't factor into his decision-making.

And of course, most know Leigh for his aggressive and irreverent mass e-mails and public comments, which have frequently been cited in local media.

Here's the entirety of today's announcement:

Tim Leigh For Colorado Springs Council District 1- 2013

Colorado Springs, November 30 ————Tim Leigh is pleased to announce his intention to seek reelection in the coming, April, 2013 municipal election. Mr. Leigh will be a candidate for Colorado Springs Council District 1. A more complete public statement will be made after the new year holiday.

The colorful visuals are now in: The El Paso County Sheriff's Office tax increase measure passed in all but two precincts on Nov. 6, and the western part of the county was the most enthusiastic about it. Here's the map, provided by Clerk and Recorder Wayne Williams.

Green precincts embraced the measure, while the red precincts objected to it.

Or you can open the map here: Q1Alrg.pdf

As for Amendment 64, the legalization of marijuana, it too benefited from a motivated west side. Here's the map of those results. Yellow means those precincts defeated the measure. Blue precincts passed it.

Open the map here: Amend64detail.pdf

Learn more about how locals voted in our Nov. 28 story, "Electoral outliers."

El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Wayne Williams has now released at least three rounds of updates, and with about 35 percent of precincts reporting, the local headlines remain the same: Democrats appear to be en route to important victories in House Districts 17 and 18, and both area tax measures look likely to pass.

• File photo
• President Obama's Colorado visits, including this one at Colorado College, clearly didn't hurt.

If there is a new footnote, though, it comes from comparing our results with those from larger stages. Looks like the county is out of sync with the state on Amendment 64 (which the Denver Post is saying will pass) and, of course, with the country in the presidential race (called for Barack Obama).

To keep track of further updates as the night goes on, click here.

——- EARLIER POST, 7:33 P.M. ——-

Despite more than 60 percent of El Paso County voters so far choosing the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan ticket, Democrats have come out of the gate strong in the two competitive House races locally. And the two most high-profile tax questions look like they're winning voter approval.

In House District 17, Democrat Tony Exum Sr. is carrying a 50.63 percent of the vote, as compared to incumbent Republican Mark Barker at 36.29 percent. And in District 18, Democratic incumbent Pete Lee is coming in at 49.54 percent, while Republican challenger Jennifer George has 39.51 percent.

Both the HD 17 and HD 18 races are considered key in determining whether the balance of power will shift in the state House, which Republicans currently control, 33 seats to 32.

As for El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa's County Public Safety Tax (Issue 1A), it's pulling 61.23 percent of the vote, with just 33.55 percent opposed. And 5A, the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority tax extension, is up 73.36 percent to 18.91 percent.

In other local news, 59.53 percent of voters so far want to scale county term limits back to two terms (with just 32.38 wanting to keep it at three). But incumbent Republican County Commissioners Amy Lathen, Sallie Clark and Dennis Hisey — all of whom have been accused of helping to get the "deceptive" 2010 term-limits extension passed in the first place — enjoy comfortable leads in their races.

Looking statewide, county voters are voting "no" on Amendment 64, the marijuana-legalization question, 51.07 percent to 45.79 percent. But they're backing Amendment 65, a symbolic measure that would instruct Colorado's representatives in Congress to push for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision, 65.15 percent to 27.89 percent.

And it sure looks like one of those representatives will be sitting Rep. Doug Lamborn, who's taking 59.15 percent of the vote in Congressional District 5, easily handling independent Dave Anderson and his 16.73 percent.

Finally, the presidential race in El Paso County sees Romney at 60.19 percent, with Barack Obama at 37.11 percent.

The El Paso County Clerk & Recorder's Office released this first wave of results at a little after 7 p.m. But there still are thousands of votes to count.

In an email this morning, Alissa Vander Veen, chief deputy and communications manager for the clerk's office, explained that the first results would comprise "all of the early voting and mail-in ballots that were processed as of 5 pm yesterday." And anyone who waited in line at their polling place today knows that many people chose to wait until Election Day itself.

To follow the clerk's numbers yourself, bookmark this page: http://www.elpasoelections.com/2012General/results.html.

Oh, and for a little perspective, here's registration data sent out earlier this week from the county clerk. 2012 voting numbers were through Saturday.

• courtesy epc clerk and recorder

The El Paso County Clerk and Recorder's office has heard your demands, all you mobile-device junkies.

If you take a visit to the clerk's website, you will find a link to download the office's nifty new Election Night App.

All you have to do is click on one of two links (depending on your phone):

• Apple Installation & Troubleshooting Guide
• Android Installation & Troubleshooting Guide

The clerk's office has also produced a helpful how-to video for installation and use.

But, beware, as the press release states:

Please make sure that your device operating system is up to date. Users who have ignored notification of operating system updates have reported problems downloading the mobile app. As with all mobile apps, a poor quality or slow internet speed will adversely impact performance of the app.

For the rest of you, the press release continues, there is always the regular old results page at http://www.elpasoelections.com/2012General/results.html

• J. Adrian Stanley
• Robert Dorrance just wants to vote.

But the 31-year-old Democrat says his experience thus far has been anything but easy. Around three weeks ago, he says, he received his ballot and set it aside. Late last week, he ripped it open and discovered a ballot for the June 26 Democratic primary.

"I was like, uh, this is not what I'm looking for," he remembers.

After Dorrance brought his ballot into the Independent, we called El Paso County Elections Manager Liz Olsen. Olsen explained that based on markings on the envelope (which contains no postage stamp) she believes the ballot was mailed back in June. But it's possible that it got misplaced, or was lost in the mail for a time. Olsen's computer also showed that a November election ballot had been mailed to Dorrance, though Dorrance says he hasn't received one.

Dorrance has tried to get a replacement ballot at the county clerk's office, but says he was told that a glitch in the computer system wouldn't allow one to be printed. He's been told to wait for a second mail ballot to be sent to him, but says he may just try to vote at an early voting site.

One would hope that most voters aren't experiencing the same difficulties as Dorrance.

Ordinarily, Olsen says mail ballot voters who don't receive a November ballot can simply go down to a county clerk's office and get a replacement ballot through election day, or bring an ID to an early voting site through Friday and vote there.

If you've long been registered for mail ballots and haven't yet received one, Olsen suggests getting a replacement ballot or going to an early voting site.