Denver Elections Busy As Time To Vote Draws To A Close
DENVER (CBS4) - It's a busy night at Denver Elections. As of 4 p.m., nearly 80% of voters in Denver had returned their ballots.
"We were heartened to see that we were in the 70 percentile before election night got here, that tells us even if we get an election night push we won't have anything that's going to drown us," Alton Dillard, Communications Manager for the Denver elections Division said.
Those incredible numbers are keeping elections judges busy at Denver's Elections Division. They would typically be in a single room together, but COVID-19 forced officials to think outside the box.
Everyone had to be more spaced out. What would typically be a lobby used for voting is now a ballot prep area.
Ballots in one area have already gone through an automatic signature verification process. Every single one has to be unfolded and flattened in order to move through the process and eventually get counted.
"They make sure there are no tears or anything like that then they go to imprinting," Dillard said.
While it might not be the most glamorous part of election night, it is certainly important.
In the midst of a pandemic some states have struggled to get folks into election judge positions. In Colorado, that's not the case. They have seen record interest. There are 1,100 positions at Denver Elections offices. Officials say 8,000 people applied.
While Colorado begins counting mail in ballots, early results are not reported until polls close and will continue to be updated as more ballots are returned.
