DENVER (KDVR) — Election Day is just a few weeks away and with Denver voters facing a packed ballot this off year, election leaders are reassuring voters their ballots are secure.
City and County Clerk Paul Lopez invited members of the public to witness the testing of the city and county’s voting system. His office does every year but given the unproven claims of fraud around the nation last year, he is reminding people Denver elections are safe.
Though voters won’t be picking a new president this year, Lopez is still hoping for a good turnout given Denver’s busy ballot.
“Every single election matters,” Lopez said. “It is going to be a loaded ballot. You’re going to see a lot of different questions. You’re going to see DPS school board candidates if you’re in Denver.”
Voters will decide on the board members along with 13 local and three statewide ballot measures.
So how does the city make sure your ballot is safe with more eyes on elections than ever before? The clerk’s office runs a logic accuracy test.
“Our bipartisan team, one republican one democrat, hand marks 25 ballots. Those ballots, the same exact votes on those ballots are also entered into one of our voting ballots,” Lopez said.
Even with all the technology readily available, the votes go through a system checked by real people.
“It passes on to our hand tallying team that hand tallies those ballots then we put those through our scanners to be tabulated as well too and when those two match, it’s a success,” Lopez said. “Every cycle, every election, it’s always been that way. We do this just to make sure it’s accurate.”
After it is handed off, you can always keep an eye on your ballot using ballot trace in Denver and Ballot Trax elsewhere in the state.
Nearly 400,000 voters turned in ballots last year in Denver. More than 3 million people total statewide. The clerk wants to continue that level of engagement this year as well.