DENVER — The easiest way to make a direct impact on the neighborhood you live in is to vote — but turnout isn't equal across the city, and local leaders say that gap is tied to deeper inequities.
Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul López says voting matters in every race on the ballot, not just the ones at the top.
See what the voting center looks like in the video below:
"It's absolutely critical that people vote in every single election, not just about the president," López said. "It's not just about, you know, the midterms. It's also about the municipal elections, school board, local elections."
López says voter turnout rates aren't equal across Denver. Pointing at a map of the city, he laid out where participation drops off.
"When you look where there is a very low turnout. You're looking at Globeville, Elyria, Swansea," López said. "You're looking at everywhere south of 17th, the whole entire West Side, all the way down to probably about even Dartmouth before you see any precincts that turn out above 50% turnout."
He says those areas are less affluent, have more people of color, and have historically been underrepresented.
"We have an opportunity to reduce that inequity," López said. "And the first step is turning in your ballot."
In the 2024 general election, ballot return rates in affluent areas like Wash Park, Belcaro, and Cherry Creek were around 85%. In Westwood, they were about 54%.
That's the gap a local nonprofit is trying to close.
"We wanted to help and really support our community with changing those numbers," said Mariana del Hierro, executive director of Re:Vision, a food insecurity nonprofit that has turned its Southwest Denver facility into a voting center.
"For our families who participate in our programming, they see this as a home base," del Hierro said. "They are used to coming here, so having it transformed into a voting center is just an extension of all the work that we do."
The idea is to bring voting access directly to neighborhoods with low turnout while also educating the public on how to register — in both English and Spanish.
"It's been so rewarding to see individuals who started participating in 2024, either with our direct outreach with families, at our ballot party, with the mobile voting unit, to see them come back in 2026 again," del Hierro said.
For López, this neighborhood is personal.
"I take a lot of pride of being able to have a vote center here and drop boxes nearby for folks in my own neighborhood, where I was born and raised, to be able to vote easily and cast their ballot," López said.
Because making a difference in your neighborhood can start with something as simple as a vote.
"Access to city services, access to grocery stores, having street trees on your, you know, in your neighborhood, access to parks has everything to do with your participation," López said.
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