DENVER — The city’s top election official claimed Tuesday that cuts to his office proposed by Mayor Mike Johnston will jeopardize the election process in what is expected to be a midterm election with high voter turnout next year.
Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul López held a news conference outside the city’s Election Division in which he criticized Johnston a day after the mayor unveiled his 2026 budget proposal to fix a $200 million shortfall the mayor has previously said is the result of a shaky economy coupled with an increase in the city’s expenses.
So far, Johnston has laid off 169 city workers, eliminated more than 600 open positions, and started requiring furlough days to help balance the budget.
On Monday, Johnston explained that his office was able to close that $200 million gap by creating $118 million in personnel savings, $77 million in savings from services, supplies, and internal transfers; and adding $5.7 million in new revenue.
But López said the cuts proposed under the mayor’s budget will gut elections and threaten voter access during the 2026 midterm election cycle, in which Coloradans will choose a new governor and determine the balance of power in Congress for the last two remaining years of President Donald Trump’s second term in office.
“I want to be absolutely clear: The mayor's proposal will decimate voter services in 2026. This will jeopardize turnout. It will disenfranchise voters, both in the primary in 2026 — which is a contested gubernatorial primary — and the general midterms,” López told reporters Tuesday. “I don't have to explain how important those midterms are going to be and how high-profile they will be.”
López said that under the mayor’s proposal, the city’s Clerk and Recorder Office will be underfunded by $4.5 million next year — a sum he said will lead to delays in election results in 2026.
In response to these claims, Jon Ewing, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, told Denver7 the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s budget will be reduced far less than other city agencies and will see a 1.5% decrease in its budget from 2025, which translates to about $211,000 in cuts.
"I believe that the clerk can make this work," Ewing said. "I don't think you get to come out here and act high and mighty when every single agency in this city has taken a cut, every single person has been asked to do more with less, every single person has been asked to make a sacrifice."
López, however, said any loss of funds will mean a reduction in ballot drop boxes and polling centers.
Should the cuts come to pass, Denver would have to close 12 polling centers and 8 drop boxes, leaving the city with only 5 polling centers and 38 drop boxes for the 2026 primary, according to the Clerk and Recorder's Office. For the general/mid-term elections in November, Denver would have to close one polling center and close eight drop boxes, he said.
López added the proposed cuts would further lead to a reduction in the number of election judges the city hires at polling centers by a third, and his office would have to eliminate all nine drive-through drop-off locations during next year’s election cycle.
“These reductions will result — if you haven't put this together — in slower ballot processing and delayed final results,” López said. “The longer the delay, the longer the distrust, the misinformation that builds up, and the tension that builds up with folks awaiting results.”
He continued, “Mayor Johnston has said these cuts will not cut critical services. However, that is just not true. These cuts will absolutely cut the voters’ access to the ballot box and our polling centers. These are critical services.”
Lopez then blamed Johnston for what he called “absolute overreach” by the mayor’s office “to attempt to control, determine or dictate my office’s needs.”
Ewing told Denver7 Tuesday none of that has happened.
“There's not been any overreach or oversight," Ewing said. "The clerk is seeing a 1.5% reduction — $200,000 — for the budget last year.”
In Monday’s announcement, Mayor Johnston claimed the Clerk and Recorder’s office refused to work with his office to find a solution and instead insisted on demanding increases, "which we couldn't meet in this budget.”
The Follow Up
City leader says Mayor Johnston's proposed 2026 budget cuts essential programs
But López fired back on those claims, saying they were not asking for extra money or an increase to the budget.
“We cut our budget by 25% this year. I know you’re not going to hear that from the mayor’s office because they don’t want you to know that," said López.
López explained that in 2024, his office received roughly $18.8 million to serve Denverites over the course of a presidential election year. In 2025, their budget was reduced to approximately $14.4 million, since there is only one election this November.
With the busy year ahead in politics, López said he needs his office to return to a budget closer to their 2024 figure, which is why he requested $18.7 million for 2026.
There was a dispute in how many times the Clerk and Recorder met with the city regarding the budget between Ewing and López. However, those meetings were not successful to bring a resolution between the clerk’s and mayor’s offices.
“Despite repeated attempts, Clerk López refused to participate and instead asked for an increase in budget,” Ewing said in a statement. “This is regrettable, especially because we believe we could have helped identify ways to save money.”
Ewing told Denver7 that ultimately, he agrees with López on the importance of strong election security, and added the city has gone through great lengths to ensure Denver’s elections are safe.
In a statement, he said the city would be installing $1.5 million in security improvements at the Denver Elections building which are expected to be completed ahead of the 2026 election cycle.
"I believe that the clerk can make this work. I believe that it is the clerk's responsibility to work within the budget that he has and within the dollars that we have," Ewing said.
Should Denver City Council pass the budget as is, López said he would continue to “fight like hell for democracy” so his office can inform voters of what to expect in next year’s election cycle.
“Now is not the time to defund elections,” López said. “We should not be defunding elections at a time where the federal overreach on the state's constitutional authority over elections is threatening Colorado's gold election standing model.”
He said he hoped city council would support a budget amendment to “ensure Denver voters continue to have full access to the democratic process, especially at this critical time in our country’s history.”
The mayor’s proposed budget is now in the hands of Denver City Council. Their budget hearings are scheduled to begin on September 22.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.