We've finally got ourselves a trustee horse race

Coming into the homestretch, it's Penguin Half-Nelson by a nose

Blame the Facebook controversy for Estes residents becoming very hesitant to release personal details (or what they perceive as personal details).  It took almost 450 phone calls this weekend to registered voters to find 200 people willing to respond to our two-question poll:  (1) Are you a registered voter in the town of Estes Park (or simpler question, if they were unsure or evasive:  Did you receive a ballot in the mail for the upcoming town board election?) and (2) Who out of this group of candidates are you likely to vote for, maximum three (in many cases, when we found friendly adults at the other end of the line, this was just responded to by "Here's who I already voted for.")

So the disclaimer this go-round is, because of the large number of people who refused to participate, the results may reflect an overabundance of anti-establishment folks.  Remember, the county (or whoever handles the vote count this time around) has already counted those ballots that arrived early.  The story is that they don't reveal this preliminary information, but we all know that a select few have access to the early numbers, or why would MayBilly R.F.D. and Uncle Jim Pinkerton write endorsement letters to the editor the last week before the election (as they will likely do this time around, if these polling numbers reflect actual candidate voting percentages).

Two things to note:  (A) Like last time, if everyone selected three candidates, the numbers would add up to 600, but they barely add up to 550.  This is because many people insisted they only voted for (or would vote for) one candidate (Scott Webermeier is attracting a lot of "Scott only" voters), or could not come up with more than two.  Whether they actually voted this way, or will actually vote this way (or indeed, will even bother voting at all) is very much a gray area.  (B) It is too bad this is not a primary, and those clearly out of the running could throw their support behind one of the front runners, because the initial vote totals released a few hours after the polls close next Tuesday may come down to a big swampy mess, which will encourage those candidates who end up being just out of the top three after the final certified count, if counts are close enough (and especially if #4 is Ken Zornes or Ward Nelson), to request a recount.

Finally, note that there will be one more attempt to poll 200 registered voters on the day of or just prior to Tuesday, April 4.  If Facebook screws up any more, it may be difficult to get registered voters in Estes Park to even pick up the phone.