With less than a month to go until Election Day, the Denver Elections Division conducted its regular Logic and Accuracy Test — to ensure voting equipment is performing accurately — on Wednesday.
This is the second of three tests that the division is required by state law to conduct before each election. Not only is the test an insurance policy to make sure the equipment is working, but it’s also an opportunity for the election division to show the public how ballots are counted.
“It’s part of our Colorado model,” Paul López, the Clerk and Recorder for the City and County of Denver, said of the test.
Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul López speaks to press during a test of ballot machines, ahead of the November presidential election, at Denver Elections’ Bannock Street headquarters. Oct. 8, 2024.
Denver Elections Office has ramped up security this election
The threat of election misinformation and increased intimidation of election officials and poll workers has forced the Denver Elections Office to rethink their approach to security.
Unlike in many other counties and states around the country, Colorado election workers are paid employees — not volunteers.
“The amazing thing about our election workers is they come from both parties,” Lopez said. “And that spirit of country before party is best represented here.”
In addition to posting security guards and police at voting service and polling centers “due to the rhetoric about the integrity of elections,” Denver will no longer livestream video of its ballot processing online. In an interview with CPR in 2023, López said that they decided to stop live streaming because election workers were receiving threats.
“If you look at the livestream, you actually see faces,” the clerks told CPR last year. “And there have been efforts to discourage — particularly Republicans — from being election judges.”
More recently, the elections office also told CPR News that it has “strengthened” its relationship with federal, state, and local law enforcement and emergency management to respond to threats.”
The added security comes after Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and López went head to head last year over funding for the upcoming election. The two were initially at odds when Johnston’s proposed budget last year did not include the City Clerk and Recorder’s request to increase security for voting offices and polling centers.
So far this year, the Denver Elections Division has spent more than $200,000 on security — a significant increase from the 2022 election.
An interactive ballot for people with visual impairments at Denver Elections’ Bannock Street headquarters. Oct. 8, 2024.
A new strategy for reaching millennials — with tattoos and beer
The elections office has shifted its marketing strategy this year. Instead of printing the usual colorful “Vote!” yard signs, this year the Denver Elections Office has simplified the color palette. The new signs — available free at Denver libraries, upcoming city town halls, or the Denver Elections Office — are simply black and white.
“Voting is a matter of black and white,” said Mikayla Ortega, a spokesperson for the office. “It’s not about how your political affiliation leans.”
The old signs were primarily in blue — which was not because of any political affiliation for the office, but could have been associated by some voters with the Democratic Party.
The office also has a new demographic of voters they’re targeting: millennials.
“They’re voting much less than the generations before them, and so we really are trying to get them engaged or reach them more,” Ortega said.
So, the elections office team has posted up at bars and local breweries, with staff handing out temporary tattoos and coasters with “let’s vote!” slogans on them.
You don’t have to wait in line
Denver is urging voters to take advantage of early voting.
“Folks should not have any qualms about voting, it is easy,” said López. “We have 45 drop boxes — secure, monitored 24-7, emptied out once to twice a day, depending on the dropbox.”
Unlike many other states, Colorado offers early voting starting this Friday, Oct. 11.
“Please don’t wait all the way up until the last minute to be able to vote in Colorado,” he said. “You have 22 days. Take advantage of it.”
According to the election office, not only does early voting make their job easier, as they will be “tabulating over a million sheets of paper,” but the earlier the ballots are in, the more ballots they will be able to count by 7 p.m. on election night.
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