ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. - Federal monitors from the Department of Justice will not enter voting centers in Adams County after declining the restrictions Colorado placed on their access, state and local election officials tell Denver7.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold shared with Denver7 Thursday that her office offered to let DOJ personnel enter the county's voting centers, but only under specific conditions and with her observers present.
"This morning, we informed that the DOJ personnel could enter Adams County centers with clear restrictions and accompanied at all times by my observers," Griswold outlined.
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Griswold said the restrictions limited what the monitors could do inside the centers to focus their visit on federal compliance.
"The restrictions included only speaking with a presiding election official about the presence of accessible voting equipment and bilingual poll workers, and that's to make sure that they were only looking at compliance with federal law," Griswold explained.
She said the goal was to avoid disrupting voters while still allowing the monitors to carry out their stated purpose.
"The intention behind that was to not interfere, you know, on purpose or not, with the voting process, and of course they could evaluate whether election materials were posted in Spanish," Griswold said.
The DOJ turned down those terms. Griswold said that means the monitors will be treated the same as any member of the public.
"They have of course declined our reasonable parameters to monitor voting centers, which means that they're entitled, just like any member of the public, to be outside," Griswold said. "They said that they will stand 100 feet outside of a voting center if they go, so they will not be permitted to enter a polling place in Adams County."
Griswold outlined how a new state law requires DOJ monitors to be approved by her office before entering a voting center.
"DOJ monitors have no right to enter voting centers unless we give them approval, and then they would only be entering for their stated purposes of ensuring that voting equipment was accessible to Coloradans as required by federal law, and that materials were in Spanish," Griswold said. "They, of course, can do and execute that compliance along with other observers that I appoint. If they choose not to do so, well, that is totally up to them."
Adams County Clerk and Recorder Josh Zygielbaum said the back-and-forth capped a hectic stretch, telling Denver7's Tyler Melito the observers had sought a specific scope of access that the secretary of state approved.
"The observers wanted to take a look at our multilingual materials accessibility for those who need handicap accessibility that sort of thing, and the secretary did grant that approval for them to come on in and do it," Zygielbaum said.
He shared how he was caught off guard when the DOJ turned down the approved access.
"I was actually surprised to hear this morning that the DOJ decided not to accept that," Zygielbaum said. "Seems counter-intuitive if they're truly coming in to observe, you know, Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, but here we are."
Zygielbaum said the monitors appeared to want unrestricted access, which he said is never granted because of the personal information of voters.
"I understand that they wanted more of an unfettered access, which, frankly, doesn't happen with anyone.
There's always some restrictions because we have personal information of voters," Zygielbaum explained.
Now, the DOJ's decision to stand outside and possibly talk with voters raises concerns for Zygielbaum.
"My concern with them standing there and talking with folks is it could actually create a negative type of interaction, you know, based on somebody's comfortability with a random person walking up and inquiring about their voting experience," Zygielbaum detailed.
When Melito spoke with Zygielbaum on October 22, he felt the DOJ's request was politically motivated. Fast forward one week and his opinion has not changed.
"This just firms up more for me because if they were truly interested in just looking at protecting the rights of those who need language and accessibility needs, then they would have accepted the offer," Zygielbaum detailed. "Them turning it down indicates to me that there may have been some sort of ulterior motive in them coming here. We'll have to see how it plays out."
Denver7 Political Expert Alton Dillard explained to Melito the dispute reflects widespread misunderstanding about what observers are allowed to do.
"Watching how this whole thing with the DOJ has unfolded has been very interesting because I think when people see terms like observer, they see terms like watcher. They think that outside people can just come in and randomly wander around in polling places and vote counting centers and all that, and that is not the case," Dillard said.
Dillard added that the broader political climate is driving the tension.
"I just think that everything is so heightened because of the political environment in the country right now. That's why you're seeing all this back and forth," Dillard said.
Dillard added that the area just outside the 100-foot limit is where the uncertainty lies.
"Especially if they're not supposed to approach voters, because that outside the 100 foot limit is where you know political activity can take place, and so that's going to be the X factor," Dillard said.
Dillard said Adams County's role in a tightly contested congressional race is likely drawing the federal attention.
"It really just comes down to in that particular congressional district, Adams is the swing county," Dillard explained. "Because CD8 is such a closely watched national race, they're the ones carpet bombing the air with all the ads heading up to the election, the candidates in that particular race, and so I just think that is the reason that is drawing the additional federal scrutiny."
On turnout, both Dillard and election officials pointed to strong early returns. Dillard said older voters have largely already cast ballots.
"The 65 and ups have already voted. You can look on the Secretary of State's website where they show what the ballot returns are looking like, and there is an age breakdown, and a lot of the counties have that same information on their website. So the target is the 25-34s and the 18-24s," Dillard said.
Zygielbaum shared that early returns in Adams County are tracking with a presidential-year pace.
"We're actually seeing about the same level of return early that we did in the 2020 presidential election," Zygielbaum stated. "We're approaching 100,000 ballots already, which is phenomenal," Zygielbaum said. "If this pace keeps up, we'll be looking at 220, 230,000 ballots potentially by the time election day concludes at 7 p.m."
Zygielbaum concluded that his office's work would not change regardless of who is watching.
"Regardless of who's here, who's watching us, whether it's DOJ members of the community appointed as watchers, our job doesn't change. We're going to do it the same way each and every single election in a bipartisan manner, and we're going to ensure that the election comes off without a hitch," Zygielbaum said.
