The election is days away, and more than 500 seasonal workers have been hired by the city of Denver to work polls this election season, according to Denver City Clerk and Recorder Paul López. These workers are pivotal to the election and integral to the electoral process.
Unfortunately, their safety has been a major concern, as election workers across the country have received an increasing number of threats. Those threats have made it difficult to recruit workers to run polling stations.
38% of election officials on the local level have experienced threats from election deniers, according to a 2024 survey by NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice. In an effort to make poll workers feel safer, the Denver Police Department (DPD) is ramping up security at polling stations this election season.
“The Denver Police Department is developing a safety plan for Election Day, to include having additional officers available to respond to any safety concerns or incidents,” wrote the DPD in a statement to Bucket List. “The Department will remain in contact with local, state and federal partners to monitor for potential threats.”
Within Colorado, officials have been receiving threats regarding their work around this year’s election. Adams County Clerk and Recorder Josh Zygielbaum told USA Today that he was followed home during his work on a recent election, which prompted him to start wearing body armor and preparing for the worst.
“Unfortunately, it’s become a normal part of our everyday lives,” Zygielbaum told USA Today. Zygielbaum isn’t the only local official to be threatened. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold recently appeared on an Axios podcast to discuss the threats she and her family have been receiving, as her office reported a 600% increase in election-related threats in early 2024.
“It’s really, really scary when someone is telling you over and over and over that they’re going to come kill you and kill your family,” Griswold said. “You have to take it seriously.”
At Denver’s local polling stations, it seems as though DPD’s plans for increased police presence is working. Denver poll workers, such as Election Judge Ethan Smith, say they feel safer at work this election season thanks to DPD efforts.
“I know DPD gets a lot of flack for a lot of reasons, but one thing they’ve been doing an excellent job with is election safety,” Smith said. “I’ve seen more deputies around our building and other polling stations than I have ever before, and I really do think that’s a great thing because we’ve struck this really awesome middle ground. They’re around enough that the poll workers feel safe, but they’re keeping enough distance that they’re not invading voters’ privacy.”
DPD told Bucket List that it has not identified any election-related threats towards Denver’s poll workers. Smith backs this up, stating that he and his coworkers have not received any threats, at least in person.
“I know we’ve gotten mail,” Smith said. “We’ve received letters with violent-sounding language. I know the Secretary of State’s office has received the infamous ‘white powder’ envelopes. Those are the only really big, legitimate security threats we’ve gotten.”
The white powder envelopes that Smith is referencing are something that’s been happening nationwide. Over 100 election officials across the country have been mailed an envelope containing a vague but threatening letter and an unidentified white powder.
Something that Smith is concerned about is the potential sabotaging of drop-off ballot boxes, which has been happening across the nation in the last week. In places like Arizona, Oregon and Washington, voters have been lighting drop-off ballot boxes on fire in an attempt to burn voters’ ballots so they cannot be counted.
“I don’t think there’s a way to completely mitigate the risk of something like that happening [in Denver],” Smith said. “But what we can do is take steps to make sure that those boxes are as safe as they can be because those boxes are massively convenient to voters. I think the level of convenience significantly outweighs the potential risk of bad actors damaging ballots.”
Smith claims that the city has taken steps to help prevent the burning of ballot boxes in Denver, albeit unintentionally. An increase in the amount of drug-related paraphernalia found in ballot drop boxes necessitated security improvements.
“We’ve got special design features in our boxes that make things like [burning them] a little more difficult,” said Smith. “Boxes are completely enclosed outside from the little opening for the ballot that are specifically sized so that you can’t put certain items inside. In 2020, we had an issue with people putting used needles in the drop boxes and we made changes to make sure that couldn’t happen.”
Smith reports that no ballot boxes in Denver have been tampered with or damaged thus far. “We’ve had some graffiti on [ballot boxes], but no real damage,” Smith said. “No one’s tried to crack one open or anything.”
Smith’s main concern about this election is the spread of misinformation. As pundits and elected officials spread more misinformation about the electoral process, poll workers’ jobs are becoming more difficult.
“My biggest concern this election is misinformation, hands down,” Smith said. “There’s definitely more misinformation around this election than any election I’ve ever seen.”
A lot of that misinformation revolves around the validity and reliability of electronic voting machines, which have become somewhat controversial after the 2020 presidential election.
“There’s been a lot of comments made about the validity of voting machines, including the tablets that we use at tables,” Smith said. “That includes the voting machines and tabulators and scanners too. Those claims are patently false.”
The city has taken steps to help pull back the curtain and make the electoral process more transparent for those who are skeptical; however, Smith encourages those who are skeptical to become poll watchers so that their concerns about election security can be alleviated.
“The recommendation that I always make for people who are skeptical of the election is to become a poll watcher,” Smith said. “You can come in and we’ll put you in a situation where you can watch all the magic happen. You can see just how secure the facility is and how safe the workers are, and you can go to the polling sites and see just how safe everything is out there too.”
Finally, Smith emphasized the importance of remaining patient with poll workers on election night. Although election night can be stressful, workers like Smith do their best to assist everyone.
“This election is a big one, and we’re going to be working our butts off,” Smith said. “We’re going to be tired, working long hours, so please be patient. I know that the 24-hour news networks may make it seem like we’re going slow, but we are counting hundreds of thousands of ballots per county. That takes time, so please be patient with us. That’s all we can really ask for.”
