Watch live: Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is providing information about #ElectionDay in Colorado, including the latest on ballot returns. 🗳 🇺🇸
Secretary of State Jena Griswold starts off. She says Colorado is the nation’s gold standard for voting. She just got the new numbers in and 76.6% of active registered voters have voted, which is really high.
As of 10 a.m. today, we surpassed 2016 turnout. Colorado has already set the bar and can continue throughout the day. Griswold says Colorado’s model sets a national standard.
Of course, #COVID19 has made this year different, though in terms of elections, much is the same for Colorado. Most Coloradans will continue to mail ballots and they wanted to make it even more accessible this year. They increased drop boxes by 50%.
They also increased voting centers to 340 open this election. They made sure to have PPE for election workers. They also introduced the new initiative for ballot tracking. Important: ballots must be received by 7 p.m. so get in line before then or use a drop box by 7 p.m.
Now, Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder George Stern discusses how #ElectionDay is going for them. He says they’re seeing record turnout and they’re leading the pack on ballots for most of early voting. He says 79% of active registered voters have turned in their ballots, 70%...
... in 2016, but they’d love to see it at 100%. He says they have twice as many drop boxes than they did two years ago. Anyone needing additional support can go to an in-person vote center. He says we’ll likely have results tonight, but they have nine days for ballots to come in.
On to questions, the first about voting safety today. Griswold says Colorado is the safest place to vote because paper voting and most Coloradans voting by mail. Also, equipment in person is not connected to the internet.
In regards to #COVID19, they’re following public health guidelines, social distancing, sanitizing equipment and wearing masks. Griswold says Coloradans should feel confident.
Stern jumps in and says everything in their facility is done by teams of election judges who’vr gone through background checks. They’re picking up ballots from drop boxes, verifying signatures and all of it is on surveillance and it’s open to watchers from both political parties.
In Jeffco, they even have outdoor sites at their busiest locations, large tents in the parking lots to give voters extra space to vote on a beautiful Colorado day.
The next question digs in further on safety from a physical and cyber standpoint. Griswold says they’re monitoring everything closely and so far all is well. Because so much of it is done by paper ballots, that helps. They’re happy to be joined by the National Guard.
They’ve worked with them for several years. Everything is quiet in a cyber front, but Coloradans should be alert of disinformation that will likely increase today and over the coming days. In regards to physical security, they did have one issue yesterday.
Two men dressed in military clothes were filming voters at a drop box, one man with open carry. Police came out and the observers left. That incident will be investigated. Stern says no voter intimidation has happened so far in Jeffco.
Griswold says they expect to report 70-80% of ballots cast tonight, but of course, nothing will be official tonight because they still need to receive votes from military overseas and have signature discrepancies fixed.
She says their team is speaking with DHS all the fine. They also have FBI representatives at the office right now to help with monitoring. So far, nothing has popped up. There have been stories across the country of misinformation, like mail snippets and robocalls.
The next question is how difficult it is to prove voter intimidation and how they approach the cases. Griswold says the basic of the law is that people cannot impede someone from voting, whether it’s physical or making someone feeling unsafe.
Things like filming someone, not wearing a mask and open carry may, alone, not constitute voter intimidation, but combining altogether could potentially be considered voter intimidation. It will be up to police and prosecutors to review and make a determination.
Griswold finishes up saying things are going smoothly. Stern hopes the few remaining voters get there ballots in by 7 p.m. this evening.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Gov. Polis and the state epidemiologist are providing an update on the state’s COVID-19 response as hospitalizations continue to rise. Watch live: thedenverchannel.com/live2
Gov. Polis speaking about the election and saying he’s proud of the voter turnout and proud that voters overwhelming approved repealing Gallagher, lowering taxes and supporting pre-k.
Polis says we need to come together and move forward to be a stronger Colorado and America.
A search is underway in Larimer County for an armed and dangerous suspect who may be around Lory State Park or Horsetooth Mountain Park. Residents in the area have been asked to stay inside. bit.ly/3mZwLMv
Lory State Park is closed as authorities continue their search for an armed and dangerous suspect this morning. bit.ly/3mZwLMv
Colorado health officials are providing an update on the state's response to COVID-19. Watch live: thedenverchannel.com/live2
Colorado state epidemiologist, Dr. Rachel Herlihy: Colorado continues to see a rise in hospitalizations for COVID-19, placing "mounting pressure" on the state healthcare system.
She urges Coloradans to get a flu shot to prevent further hospitalizations.
Herlihy: Colorado's COVID-19 positivity rate has doubled over the last week and continues to increase with each day.
Trump: Millions and millions of people voted for us, and a very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people and we will not stand for it.
[This statement is false].
President Trump says it is “clear” that he won Georgia.
That statement is false.
President Trump has not been declared the winner in Georgia.
In opening remarks, Polis says we’re doing better as a state, starting to see the impact of two things: Mask wearing, last call for bars and restaurants at 10 p.m. #COVID19Colorado
Polis: "Just because we are plateauing doesn't mean we're not still in a precarious position,” after stating Colorado’s R0 value (rate of infection) is 1 - meaning 1 infected person infects another.