Colorado: Westminster Mayor resigns in face of recall leads to 78 rounds of voting to fill Mayor Pro Tem position

After 78 rounds of voting, a replacement has been chosen for Westminster Mayor Pro Tem following the resignation of Mayor Herb Atchison. Atchison resigned after signatures were verified in the recall effort against him and the previous Mayor Pro Temp (Councilor Anita Seitz) moved up to the position. No word yet on a replacement for Atchison in his councilor position. Councilor David DeMott was selected for the Mayor Pro Tem position.

The recall vote against Atchison is off, but there is still one set to take place in July against Councilor Jon Voelz.

The Westminster recall has taken a number of twists and turns. Petitioners got enough signatures for Atchison and Voelz to get to the ballot, but petitions against Councilors Anita Seitz and Kathryn Skulley failed to clear the bar. 

A state judge ruled that a city clerk was wrong in tossing out signatures due to petitioners unstapling the cover sheets of the petitions. The judge ruled that the stapling issue was unintentional. The recall is over water bills. Petitioners needed 25% of turnout, which is 5009 signatures for Atchison and 6,098 for the three council members. Skulley's signatures missed by 61; Atchison by 282; Voelz by 635 and Seitz by 757. Atchison's effort got more than a 1000 over the limit and Voelz just got 9. Seitz missed by 35 signatures and Skulley by 23.