Denver Election Officials Prepare for Possible Federal Presence at Polling Places
As voters head to the polls on November 3, election officials in Denver, Denver County, Colorado, say they hope for an uneventful election while planning for scenarios that once seemed incomprehensible. Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul Lopez said his office has expanded contingency planning, including training election judges on how to respond if armed federal agents appear at voting centers, and has taken legal action.
Denver is a plaintiff in League of United Latin American Citizens v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which challenges the Trump administration's authority to deploy armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to polling places for routine immigration enforcement. Denver joined LULAC, Common Cause and UnidosUS in filing the suit on September 10 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; Hennepin County, Minnesota, later joined, and an amended complaint filed October 7 added a claim under Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits intimidation, threats and coercion related to voting. The plaintiffs argue the federal policy conflicts with 18 U.S.C. Section 592, which bars federal officials from keeping troops at a place where an election is being held.
Lopez said the suit seeks legal protections before any confrontation occurs rather than after election operations are disrupted. Denver's ballot drop-box network has grown from about two dozen when he took office to 49 this year, monitored and emptied by bipartisan teams. Colorado mails ballots to registered voters; ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day and a postmark alone does not meet the deadline.
(Source: Law Week Colorado)
Source: Law Week Colorado
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：丹佛市县大楼。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons（CC BY 4.0，Daniel Hartwig)。 / Photo: Denver City and County Building. Source: Wikimedia Commons（CC BY 4.0，Daniel Hartwig).
