GOLDEN, Colo. (KDVR) — Election Day is less than three weeks away, and thousands of people have already turned in their ballots. Others will take extra time to fill it out.
After several threats were made against election judges across the state and suspicious substances were sent to the secretary of state's office, the Jefferson County Elections Division has made a few changes to security.
The security of your ballot has always been a top priority, and the division has implemented procedures from cameras near drop boxes to signature verification teams.
FOX31’s Carly Moore got a tour of a secure elections facility from Jefferson County Clerk And Recorder Amanda Gonzales.
“Your ballot is never alone with just one person,” said Gonzales. “Only after we've verified the signature belongs to you will we ever open and count that ballot.”
After a few contentious elections, the office in Golden has increased security protocols to protect staff.
“We all saw 2020 and we saw that there were unprecedented threats. I think a lot of us watch some scary things on our television,” said Gonzales. “I think we are always balancing that transparency with security.”
They changed their mail handling procedures, election judges who interact with voters got de-escalation training, and they changed protocols if someone shows up after 7 p.m. on Election Day trying to vote and gets confrontational.
More than 900 people processing ballots are prepared for anything.
“We need to be prepared for all of that, and we also need to be prepared in case there are malicious actors. We never expect that to happen,” Gonzales said. “We have done more tabletop exercises, more training and more disaster preparedness than we ever have in the past. And I think we are really more prepared going into 2024 because we learned about a broad range of things that can happen in 2020.”
To the clerk, it’s a necessary step to protect what matters most.
“People saw that democracy is something that is worth protecting and that we have to stand up for,” said Gonzales.
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