Spunt to run as write-in candidate
Judge determines petition lacking enough valid signaturesBy Mike Potter
Staff Writer
RECOUNT BID COMES UP SHORT
District 2 Commissioner candidate Ron Spunt’s bid for an official recount came up short
on June 23. (Photo by Mike Potter/The Flume)Ron Spunt will run’ as a write-in candidate for Park County Commissioner District 2 in the general election in November since a judge has decided he didn’t have enough valid signatures to make it on the Republican primary ballot in August.
Judge Kenneth Plotz found on June 23 that only one of the 10 names brought forward to the court by Spunt was a valid signature. To win a recount, Spunt needed to prove that at least nine signatures were valid out of the signatures declared invalid by the Park County Clerk and Recorder’s Office.
“That’s just the way the chips fall,” Plotz said in court.
Spunt said he wasn’t surprised by the judge’s ruling, and in fact. had been campaigning as a write-in candidate at Bailey Days on June 21 and 22.
He also said he is pursuing separate complaints against Park County Clerk and Recorder Debra Green.
A complaint was filed with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office and a criminal complaint was lodged by Spunt against Debra Green with the District Attorney’s office in Fairplay.
Wayne Munster, deputy director of elections for the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, said a complaint had been filed against Green and a meeting would take place between the Secretary of State’s office and Green in the coming weeks.
“We would discuss the items in. the complaint and just see exactly what Debra and the county have to say in response,” Munster said