DENVER -- The Colorado Secretary of State’s office announced that polls closed at 7 p.m. without any reports of serious problems across the state. Only two minor issues have arisen tonight.

In Teller County, the clerk reported an automobile accident on Ute Pass and inquired whether to extend polling hours to allow potential voters time to get to the polls. However, since the request came just minutes before 7 p.m., officials at the Secretary of State’s office determined that extended polling hours were not necessary in Teller County.

In El Paso County, the clerk reported extremely long lines at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Additional election judges were dispatched to that location to help speed up the check-in process. Everyone in line by 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote.

No legal challenges or lawsuits were filed in any Colorado county today.

Voting results are tallied county-by-county by the county clerks, and then reported to the media. Keep in mind, that in Colorado provisional ballots must be counted by November 14. County clerks have until November 18 to certify election results to the Secretary of State.

Republicans Accuse Democrats Of Election Rule Violations

Republican Party officials accused Democrats of violating election rules at scattered sites around Colorado on Tuesday, raising the specter of fraud in a hotly contested presidential state hours after the polls opened.

State GOP spokesman Peter DeMarco said a lawyer for the Democratic Party showed up at an Eagle County precinct with a list of registered Republican voters and a plan to challenge all of them. Democrats admitted it was true.

"There was one of our members of our voter protection team who, unbeknown to us, did file a blanket challenge," said Steve Haro, spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. "It ended up failing immediately. No voter was turned away. That attorney has been taken off our team."

Officials with Election Protection, a voters' rights group, also said some voters in a predominantly black neighborhood north of Denver found papers on their doorsteps giving them the wrong address for their precinct.

"They looked they were done on a small computer; typical of your average voter suppression flier," spokeswoman Priscilla Ring said.

Dana Williams, administration director in the secretary of state's office, said there were no widespread reports of balloting problems or fraud complaints. Colorado has been closely watched by the national parties because the race between Kerry and President Bush has been unusually tight in this GOP-leaning state.

Diane Henry, a 45-year-old single mother and cook in Denver, complained she was not on the rolls at her polling place, even though she registered at a motor vehicle office. She said a few poll workers started arguing with one another when they were supposed to be helping her.

"I started to just leave the paper and walk out the door. See, that's why a lot of people don't bother because of all the changes you have to go through. And that's crazy. Do they really want you to vote? Or do they just want to make you think you're going to vote?"

Henry ended up casting a provisional ballot, used when eligibility is in question and verified later. Officials have warned that an undetermined number of provisional ballots in Colorado could hold up the results of races from president to Senate.

"All these years, they should be able to come up with a better system," Henry said. "As long as you have an ID stating that you live here, if you show up then -- I mean, it's hard to get people to vote."

Republican officials accused MoveOn.org, a group that supports Democrats, of electioneering too close to some polls. After the GOP complained, the secretary of state's office sent a notice to all 64 counties saying "election-related activity" is barred within 100 feet of polling stations.

Republicans also complained their judges were not being certified in several precincts in several counties, including Denver. Alan McBeth, Denver election spokesman, said his office had certified GOP poll watchers and that he would ask the city attorney's office to investigate.