Michael Scarpello has been named director of elections for Denver.

Scarpello comes to the job from Douglas County, Neb., where he served as elections manager in Omaha since 2004.

Prior to his new job, he worked as chief deputy election commissioner in the Nebraska county for more than four years.

He comes to a city with a history of election problems.

In 2006, Denver saw extremely long lines and voters being turned away in its 55 voting centers, thanks to problems with its system of checking voter IDs.

In 2004, many voters were frustrated when they did not receive absentee ballots. In some early voting areas, voters faced waits of up to three hours as well.