The 2026 election judges — John Reed, Sandra Berg and Richard Craig, along with municipal judge Tom Loczy present — arrived to Nucla Town Hall at 11 a.m. on April 7 to take an oath, draw for duties and cover some “housekeeping items,” Town Manager Jessica Davis told the Forum on Election Day.
At noon, the ballot drop-off box was taken into the boardroom, and judges unlocked it to begin counting votes and verifying signatures. Judges remained at Nucla Town Hall until 7 p.m., when polls closed and counting concluded.
Afterward, Davis then announced election results personally to candidates, as well as the Forum and to those online through the town’s website and social media.
Davis said each voter had five votes they could cast, one for mayor and up to four for trustees. She said not everyone cast a mayoral vote though, or used all four trustee votes. Wayne Ament's votes were not counted, as he withdrew from the election.
Each judge had a tally sheet, and judges looked at ballots in lots of 10, then labeled and clipped them together for archiving. Davis, told the Forum she summarized each judge's tally sheet on April 8 onto an identical sheet to double-check the math and compare all three for potential discrepancies. No errors were found among the tally sheets, but the judges were tired, and the math for the totals was actually incorrect.
Next, Davis compared the town’s internal ballot tracker, U.S. mail, drop off and returned mail, where she discovered an error in the spreadsheet that skewed the numbers she ultimately referred to.
In the election, there were 165 registered voters checked by judges on the registration list. Of the ballots, three ballots required affidavits confirming the voter's identity, since the signature was unverifiable. Davis said those will be opened and counted upon receipt of the affidavit by April 15. Additionally, two ballots were spoiled; one was a second ballot a voter sent after already casting a vote, and the other was dropped off unsealed and missing all required information on the return ballot envelope. Those ballots are included in the 165.
Results of the mayoral race were Brad Miller receiving 55 votes, and Paula Brown receiving 105, making for a total of 160 mayoral votes cast.
Results of the trustee election were Ailene Smith with 145, Darla Joseph with 143, Aimee Tooker with 111 and Joseph Hittinger with 82. The aforementioned were all elected to the board. James Pierce, with 80 votes, lost the election by just two votes. In total, there were 561 votes cast for trustee seats.
Davis said 512 ballots were mailed out to voters. Of those, 21 were returned by mail, 146 were dropped off to Nucla Town Hall and 37 were returned by the USPS as undeliverable.
In short, with 308 ballots not turned in, voter turnout was 32.2%.
“The voter turnout numbers were consistent with the last few elections,” Davis told the Forum April 10. “I’m not certain why the numbers are low.”
She said she wonders if people get busy and forget to vote. Perhaps they don’t check the mail. They also may not care to vote.
“Throughout this election, I wondered if opening in-person voting polls back up might help,” she said. “However, everything points back to cost and budget, and overall, the citizens.”
She said voter turnout is interesting to her personally, because at the federal level especially many people feel unheard and get discouraged. She said local elections are where every vote definitely counts.
“And the majority can be a very loud number, or truly show a close division on a ballot measure, so your vote is your voice,” Davis said. “On a personal level, I believe that if you vote you can complain; no vote, no whining.”
Davis said there are two years until the next regular municipal election. She hopes more voters will show up then.
