Special to the HT
MEEKER | Voters narrowly selected Danette Coulter and decisively chose Dr. Albert Krueger in the May 5 special mail ballot election for the Eastern Rio Blanco County Health Service District board, according to unofficial results released after the Herald Times had gone to press.
The election restores the district to a seven-member board by adding one three-year term seat and one one-year term seat.
In the race for the three-year term, Coulter received 577 votes, edging Bobby Gutierrez by just three votes. Gutierrez received 574 votes in one of the closest local races in recent memory.
For the one-year term seat, Krueger received 626 votes to defeat Shawn Bolton, who received 521 votes.
The election followed months of discussion about governance and board structure for the district, which oversees Pioneers Medical Center. The board had previously been reduced to five members before voters approved returning to seven.
The election will not become official until Thursday, May 14, after the deadline for military and overseas ballots to be received.
Any returned military ballots will be added to a reserve batch of five uncounted ballots retained to protect voter privacy when small numbers of ballots remain.
Under Colorado law, a mandatory recount is triggered if the margin between candidates is less than one-half of 1% of the leading candidate’s total votes. The current three-vote margin falls within that threshold, though the final determination will depend on outstanding ballots.
