A nonpartisan election protection hotline in Colorado received just over 500 calls from voters asking questions since ballots were mailed out starting Oct. 11, an uptick from previous years.
Common Cause Colorado, a pro-democracy organization with branches in about two dozen states, works with the nonpartisan Just Vote Colorado coalition to run a hotline staffed by legal experts to help answer voters’ questions and address potential threats to voters and election processes. Aly Belknap, Common Cause Colorado’s executive director, said the coalition has about 40 partners around the state working to promote the hotline as a resource for voters.
“The election protection hotline is receiving more calls than we’ve seen in many years from Coloradans, which is great because it means that when folks have issues, they know where to bring them and they know that we’re a trusted source for information,” Belknap said.
In prior years, the hotline has received between 200 and 300 calls at this point ahead of the election, Belknap said. She said the length of Colorado’s ballot, with 14 statewide measures, likely contributed to the increase in calls, as well as “the climate around voting” and disinformation around election safety and security. Questions about who is allowed to be present around polling centers have also come in.
“I think folks are on high alert, and people’s nervous systems are activated,” Belknap said. “We know that most threats and disinformation narratives do not result in real world violence, and voters should feel secure that if they’re going to go in person or dropping off their ballot that they can do so safely and without intimidation.”
When early voting kicked off, Belknap said Rio Grande County had a voter intimidation incident reported through the hotline that the county handled “exactly the right way” – she said the individual posing a threat was removed from the polling location and voters were able to cast their ballots.
“It just goes to show that our county election officials are extremely dedicated to identifying and responding to any forms of intimidation or violence that are happening, and we’ve been really grateful to have nothing but great conversations so far with those clerks,” Belknap said.
Voters with questions or concerns can call the hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE. Belknap and Common Cause leaders from other Western states including Arizona, Oregon and California held a press briefing Thursday morning to highlight their election protection efforts.
Belknap said her organization has 250 poll monitors deployed across the state this week and next, watching out for voter intimidation, accessibility issues, election administration issues and challenges to voter eligibility. She said monitors will also watch for adherence to new Colorado election laws, such as the ban on open or concealed carry near polling places.
“It’s extremely important that we have folks out there to ensure and monitor that these laws are being followed and that there’s not intimidation happening, and if there is, that we can respond to that,” Belknap said.
Common Cause will host one more training for interested nonpartisan poll watchers at noon on Friday. The organization also adjusted its poll monitoring program this year to include a larger presence around ballot drop boxes, particularly due to the potential for ill-intentioned drop box monitoring that could interfere with voting, Belknap said.
“We’re shifting volunteer capacity to go cover those locations and make sure that there’s no nefarious activity and that we’re able to work with our election officials to identify anything that needs to be responded to,” she said. “Our volunteers are everyday folks who are coming together to work and protect democracy because they care so much about it.”
Belknap said considering the length of Colorado’s ballot this year, voters need more time getting through their ballots and that high turnout on Election Day is expected. As of noon Thursday, the Colorado secretary of state’s office reported close to 1.6 million ballots returned.
Following a Tuesday announcement from Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office that partial system passwords had been exposed in a document published on a state elections website, Belknap said voters should be assured that no voting machine has been compromised.
“We have many layers of safeguards built into Colorado’s election system that prevent a single breach from upending the system itself,” she said. “At this point, we just want folks to know that one breach cannot and should not upend our election system, and nothing will change about your experience voting this year, from getting your ballot in the mail, or going to vote in person, to having your vote counted the way that you intended.”
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced Thursday that he is deploying state resources to complete the process of securing voting systems in affected Colorado counties. Belknap said she hopes the investigation will lead to more answers for Coloradans.
“We are concerned that situations like these, even when they occur in an extremely strong and secure election system, have the potential to feed these disinformation narratives that our elections aren’t secure, that voters’ votes won’t be counted according to their intent,” Belknap said. “So what we’re trying to let folks know is you can be reassured that that is not the case.”
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