DENVER—U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter wants the secretary of state to appoint an independent election monitor to watch the polls in Arapahoe County because he doesn’t think the county is prepared to handle a potential rush of voters on Election Day.
Perlmutter made the request in a letter he sent to Secretary of State Mike Coffman and Arapahoe County clerk Nancy Doty on Tuesday. Coffman’s spokesman Rich Coolidge said the office received the letter and will respond to it by Thursday.
In a written statement issued Wednesday, Doty said she is confident the county’s election will be fair and honest.
“We are working diligently to prepare for the upcoming general election and we are already busy processing the thousands of mail ballots that have been returned, as well as accommodating the many people who are participating in early voting,” she said.
Arapahoe County is among the state’s largest and will rely mainly on electronic voting machines on Nov. 4. It’s also seen an increase in new voters, who have helped tilt the traditionally Republican county to the Democratic side.
Perlmutter, a Democrat whose district includes Arapahoe County, said many of those new voters will end up voting on Election Day and he fears possible long lines and potential problems with electronic voting machines could keep them from casting ballots. In his letter, he renewed his request that Doty stock paper ballots at every polling place so they can be used in case of any problems with the voting machines or open up more voting booths to reduce wait times.
The county has a plan to deploy paper ballots to any precinct where they’re needed. But Perlmutter said that there’s no reason to make voters wait while those ballots can be delivered or the machines are fixed.
“Not only would such a delay potentially turn away many would be voters, any widespread problems with the machines would paralyze the polls in Arapahoe County and disenfranchise thousands of citizens,” Perlmutter wrote.
About 60 percent of Arapahoe County’s 343,358 voters have requested mail-in ballots. Perlmutter said he wasn’t concerned about problems in nearby Jefferson County, where 73 percent of voters say they want to vote by mail. Jefferson County will use a combination of paper ballots and electronic voting machines.
Voters still have until Oct. 28 to send in a request for a mail-in ballot and can vote at early voting locations through Oct. 31.
