El Paso County Republicans will meet again to fill former state House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese’s seat after the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office invalidated a vacancy election that was conducted too soon.

Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office announced Tuesday that the county party’s attempt to fill the seat early last week fell outside the legally required timeline to give advance notice of a vacancy committee election.

State law requires vacancy committees to meet no fewer than 10 days after mailing a written notice to the committee members. The El Paso County GOP, however, notified committee members the day of Pugliese’s Sept. 15 resignation and held the selection a week later.

The ruling by the secretary of state’s office in effect nullifies the committee’s selection of

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