A proposed change to the town charter would clarify — or perhaps muddy — the definition of who lives in town and who doesn’t.

Last November, Telluride’s election was as closely monitored as any in the world. Poll watchers eagle-eyed every voter who stepped into the ballot box, and at least a few voters were pulled out of line and made to swear they lived in town.

Two wings of the town’s politically active constituency each formed poll watching groups, and both alleged voter fraud. (The political wings could be described as pro and anti development. Or pro and anti heated-sidewalk.)

One side alleged that locals living in Ophir or Lawson Hill were sneaking into town ballot booths. The other side alleged that second homeowners from New York or Arizona were mailing in absentee ballots to a town in which they do not actually live.

“We have reason to believe that our voter rolls are being pierced by people who are doing that,” Rick Silverman said yesterday, “living somewhere else and voting from their second home.”

Yesterday in the town council meeting, the council voted 5-1 to send the changes to the voters for approval. They’re essentially the guidelines used by the state of Colorado.

“We know that there is voter fraud,” Eileen McGinley said. But she questioned whether the changes would help reduce it.

On the other hand, most town council members thought the language changes would clarify things and apply state rules to town elections.

Local Bill Fandel saw the changes as a positive attempt to “clear up the protocol.”

Currently, in the town charter, there is no definition of what it means to live here.

The addition would spell out, in very detailed but not necessarily very clear language, who is a resident. It would take into account not just where you lived for 30 days prior to the election but also where you work, have family, where your car is registered.

A handful of residents grilled the council on what the changes might mean. Most worried that it would work against younger voters who don’t own property. If you left town for six months to camp in Kampuchea or kayak in Kazakhstan and took your stuff with you, are you still a resident?

Anyone going out of town for more than 30 days were supposed to file a written form saying they intended to come back, town clerk MJ Schillaci said. Or they could swear, when filling out their absentee ballot, that they intended to come back.

Homeless people would have to be registered at a physical address. Or a homeless shelter, which the town doesn’t have. 

Council member David Oyster semi-joked, “The local definition of homeless is a snowboarder without a girlfriend.” Oyster stressed that intention is still an important factor. That if you intend to live in Telluride, you live here. 

Mark Betts, who helped organize a poll watching crew in the November election, said after the meeting he didn’t think the changes would have a big effect. Most elections are already run with the statewide rules in effect.

Betts said he worried about transparency. Schillaci indicated that it would be difficult to challenge absentee voters in the same way his group challenged voters who arrived in person.

“I think what people were more worried about is not the here-for-a-little-bit-and-gone-for-a-little-bit people,” Betts said. “I think it was what Eileen and Rick were talking about,” i.e., votes from second homeowners.

During the hour and a half of discussion about who lives here, the level of detail and scrutiny was intense. But, then, Telluride is a tiny town where votes are often decided by razor-thin margins (the wonderful library was built on the strength of a single vote), and so those in the council meeting knew that every single voter counts.