Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., has unexpectedly found herself in a dead heat with Democrat challenger Adam Frisch… and she may win or lose on ballot curing.
Boebert isn’t alone. Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona, Kari Lake, has pleaded with her own voters to cure their ballots and fix potentially invalidating errors before they’re discarded.
Some states simply throw out ballots after discovering errors, like missing signatures. Other states contact the voters and allow them to cure their ballots of these errors.
Ballot curing is allowed in 24 states — from Utah and California to Texas and New York.
Each state cures ballots differently. Colorado — a sprawling state with universal voting by mail — keeps an especially lenient policy.
The state maintains a texting program to alert voters about ballot errors, and it allows voters at least six days to correct them.
“Voters of ballots with missing/mismatching signatures are notified by mail within three days (or within two days after the election) of any discrepancy,” Colorado law says.
“A confirmation form accompanying the letter must be returned to the county clerk and recorder within eight days after Election Day to count.”
In other words, Colorado voters can cure their ballots until the end of the day on Wednesday, Nov. 16.
With more than 95 percent of votes reported as of Monday, Boebert has taken a very narrow lead against Frisch, a businessman and former city councilman from the posh ski town of Aspen.
However, Boebert is leading by only 0.35 points, under 1,200 votes. Thousands of ballots are likely available to be cured.
Plus, Boebert is predicted to lose most of the remaining uncounted ballots, according to some models. She also remains well within the state’s margin for recounts: 0.5 percent.
The incumbent Boebert is running in an R+6 district. The poll aggregate at FiveThirtyEight gave her a 97 percent chance of winning re-election.
A win by Frisch would be a shocking upset.
“I spent 10 months trying to convince donors and journalists and political strategists everywhere that there was a path forward,” Frisch told the Associated Press. “I have this calm belief that that 40% of the Republican Party wants their party back.”
The Democrats have overperformed in the inland West, a Republican stronghold. Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez won a House race in rural Washington. Previously, FiveThirtyEight had given her only a 2 percent chance of victory.
However, Boebert remained confident.
“We will have this victory,” Boebert declared at a campaign event late Tuesday in Grand Junction.
In Boebert’s case, her fate will become more clear after Wednesday, the deadline for ballot curing.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.