DENVER -- The state has placed Denver and three other counties on an election watch list because of serious voting problems last November and will seek court permission to directly supervise their next elections unless they fix the deficiencies, The Associated Press has learned.

Secretary of State Mike Coffman said Monday he notified Denver, Pueblo, Douglas and Montrose counties last week of his actions. He said he will send monitors into the four counties.

Coffman said Denver and Douglas counties were placed on the list because of long lines at voting centers last November. Pueblo was placed on the list because election officials broke the law and didn't verify signatures, and Montrose was notified because of multiple, serious security lapses, he said.

"In the last election, the vast majority of Colorado's counties conducted their elections without any significant problems. However, four out of 64 counties had major problems," Coffman said.

Coffman said Attorney General John Suthers told him he has the authority under state election laws to set up the watch list and send in monitors. The law requires the secretary of state to "ensure the integrity of elections."

Coffman said the Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in 2002 after problems in the 2000 presidential election gave state government a greater role in overseeing and coordinating elections.

Denver election officials said software that was supposed to verify whether voters were registered -- known as "e-poll books" -- stalled during the November election, creating hours-long waits at new voting centers. Final results were delayed for a week when misprinted absentee ballots forced officials to sort them by hand a counting scanner broke down. Denver got so far behind that police officers were called in to sort ballots.

Similar problems were reported in Douglas County. Douglas County authorities said that they've already established a panel to look into the problems and the panel will present its findings to the Douglas County Commissioners in April.

"While the details of the plan will be presented on April 10, all on the panel agreed that the No. 1 problem for Douglas County was that of capacity -- more voters than voting machines could accommodate," said Douglas County Clerk and Recorder Jack Arrowsmith.

"I have every confidence in the Douglas County elections staff to implement the findings of the panel and provide the citizens of Douglas County with the nearly flawless elections they have historically received and should expect. I also look forward to working with Secretary of State Coffman as I know that his goal and mine is to improve the voting process for the citizens of Douglas County," he said.

In Montrose, a shortage of experienced poll workers working with new voting machines was blamed for programming errors, failures to test the machines and failure to secure the machines.

A secretary of state's report made public last month accused Montrose County election officials of "flagrant violations" of security procedures but found no evidence of fraud or criminal misconduct.

Coffman said Pueblo needs to set up a system to verify signatures on absentee ballots and Douglas County needs to reduce delays that prevented some people from being able to vote.

Counties placed on the list will receive a description of their deficiencies, as well as an outline of the corrective action necessary for removal from the list. The Secretary of State’s office will work closely with counties to address these issues before the next election.

"All four of the counties placed on the Election Watch List are under new leadership. They inherited these problems and I'm confident in their ability to correct them. I look forward to working with them," Coffman said.

According to his office, remediation will be determined by the severity of the deficiencies in each county, and may include one or all of the following:

Election observer(s) selected by the Secretary of State;

Periodic status updates and progress reports;

Periodic announced visits by Secretary of State staff to county election offices;

Participation in training sessions conducted by the Secretary of State’s office;

Development of mentoring relationships with current or former election officials;

Participation in mock election exercises;

Providing any relevant documentation requested for review by the Secretary of State.

If a county fails to address the deficiencies that placed it on the Election Watch List, Coffman will seek a court order giving the Secretary of State's Office direct supervision over the conduct of the county's next election, until the identified problems are corrected.