Colorado is one of few states that allow officials to cancel primary elections if they are uncontested.

The law was adopted in 2009, but no counties invoked the law until 2011 when El Paso County, Colo., canceled its primary election, prompting Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler to sue.

An appeals court upheld the suit, requiring Wayne Williams, El Paso County clerk and recorder, to carry out the uncontested election. It cost the county $68,000 in printing and mail costs.

Williams wasn’t pleased with Gessler’s interpretation of the law.

“We’re never happy to be told we can’t save money,” Williams said.

An El Paso County registered Democrat sent an email to Williams in mid-June asking why he even received a ballot.

“I’m assuming some law requires this ballot to be mailed to every registered Democrat and our tax dollars pay for it,” he wrote, “but it seems like a waste of money.”

Williams thinks that the few voters in the uncontested primary race “feel a civic responsibility to vote,” he said, while most people “think it’s not worth voting.”

Days before the 2012 Colorado primary, only 15 percent of the 65,000 voters had returned their uncontested ballots.

“When you have most jurisdictions during this recession that have had diminished sales tax numbers and less property tax coming in, you have to look at how you can provide the critical services in the most cost-effective way possible,” Williams said.

By Emily Nohr, News21