DOJ tells Colorado its elections observers will remain outside polling places
The Department of Justice has declined terms set forth by Colorado's Secretary of State for federal elections observers the DOJ wants to send to Adams County next week.
On Thursday, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold's office detailed plans to assign its own monitors to accompany four federal observers the DOJ wanted to dispatch to observe voting locations in Adams County. Adams County and Weld County make up the hotly contested Congressional District 8, yet the DOJ only expressed interested in observing left leaning Adams, versus conservative Weld.
The DOJ on Thursday notified Colorado it was declining the terms needed to gain access to polling locations. "Thank you for your letter. While we appreciate your efforts to accommodate us, we will have to decline your offer. Our monitors will remain outside of polling places and not come within 100 feet of the building in accordance with Colorado state law," reads the DOJ notice which the secretary of state's office provided to CBS Colorado.
The DOJ also informed Colorado's Secretary of State that they'd be sending three more teams of two to Adams County, and again affirmed that they would remain at least 100-feet away from any voter center.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a candidate for Colorado Attorney General, said, "My office provided reasonable restrictions on DOJ monitors, which they refused to accept. As a result, the DOJ will not be allowed to enter voter centers in Adams County. It is illegal for anyone, including the DOJ, to intimidate or interfere with voters outside of voter centers. My office will take any suggestion of voter intimidation seriously and will act accordingly."
"Adams County is committed to making sure every eligible voter has their voice heard, and election workers in my office will be ready to help any voter that needs it on Tuesday," said Adams County Clerk Josh Zygielbaum. "I look forward to serving the people of Adams County and having another great election."
A DOJ spokesperson wrote to CBS Colorado, "State or local approval is not required for Department monitoring. Department monitors follow the state and local laws and rules that govern polling locations, and every monitor is trained on the rules for their assigned jurisdiction." Asked whether the department still intended to send four observers and if it planned to observe Adams County only, the spokesperson said, "We will release the full list on Election Day."
"There's just a mistrust between states and the federal government at this time because of the politics," said CU elections law Professor Doug Spencer. "But this particular instance of observers coming to our state does not feel out of the ordinary or inappropriate."
In his letter to the secretary of state a DOJ official said, "We are specifically interested in assessing compliance with Spanish language access under section 203 of the Voting Rights Act and polling place accessibility for disabled voters."
"And so the fact that they specifically identified those things that they wanted to observe, and now have said that they're only going to stand outside of a polling place, makes you wonder what it is that they plan to accomplish," added Spencer.
Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ has said the department is planning to deploy a record 1,000 federal monitors to polling places throughout the U.S. for the midterm elections.
