Internet Service Blamed For Voting Issues In Durango
DURANGO, Colo. (CBS4)- The Secretary of State's Office says there are some voting issues in Durango after some internet issues. The internet was down twice so far this Election Day.
La Plata County's internet provider is having technical difficulties today and it's affecting our phone lines. Please bear with us if you're trying to reach our offices today. pic.twitter.com/l2UK6MfvLJ
— La Plata County, CO (@LaPlataCountyCO) November 6, 2018
Internet service was restored the most recent time just after 2 p.m. after earlier issues.
Internet service is down again in the Durango area. We are in contact with the provider. County residents can vote by provisional ballots or turn in their mail ballots. We'll keep you posted. #COpolitics
— Lynn Bartels (@lynn_bartels) November 6, 2018
Lynn Bartels, the spokeswoman for the Secretary of State's Office tweeted just after 1 p.m., "Internet service is down again in the Durango area. We are in contact with the provider. County residents can vote by provisional ballots or turn in their mail ballots. We'll keep you posted."
There have been two internet outages about 20 minutes each in La Plata County on Tuesday. Both of the outages affected voting. One happened at 10:30 a.m. and the other happened about 12:30 p.m.
Voters can either wait for the internet to come back or vote by provisional ballot. During the first outage on Tuesday morning, 14 people voted by provisional ballot.
PHOTO GALLERY: Election Day In Colorado 2018
In the most recent outage, the La Plata County Clerk issued 50 provisional ballots.
Election officials in La Plata County said that internet service has been reliable lately but it was just bad luck that it is happening on Election Day. The internet service disruptions were wide-spread, not just at polling places.