Colorado must approve federal election observers in Adams County, state law says

Colorado election officials are treating the U.S. Department of Justice’s plan to send election monitors to Adams County for the upcoming midterm elections as a request that requires approval, rather than a mandate, according to correspondence between state and federal officials.

The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division first notified Adams County Clerk Josh Zygielbaum on Tuesday that it intends to send monitors on Election Day, Nov. 3. Colorado Deputy of Secretary of State Andrew Kline then sent a letter to the DOJ on Thursday, pointing to state laws that require certain people, such as the DOJ monitors, to be appointed as official observers before they can go into non-public election spaces.

“Colorado is not subject to any relevant court orders or settlement agreements, and none of the statutes cited in your email provide the Department of Justice with authority to observe election activities in non-public spaces,” reads Kline’s letter to DOJ Attorney Jake Bachand, which the secretary of state’s office provided to Newsline Friday.

Kline then asked for information about each proposed observer, including the time and location they intend to monitor.

The Denver suburbs of northern Adams County make up the more Democratic-leaning half of Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, a toss-up district that has had extremely close results in the two elections since its creation in 2021. The race between incumbent Republican Rep. Gabe Evans and Democrat Manny Rutinel will be key in determining which party gains control of Congress.

Weld County, which includes the district’s more heavily Republican half, did not receive a similar notice, officials there told The Colorado Sun. The DOJ mistakenly sent another notice to the conservative-leaning Douglas County on Wednesday, but backtracked Thursday afternoon.

DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels wrote in an email that Adams County was chosen because is covered by Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act for language assistance. Jurisdictions covered by that section have at least a 5% share of voters who don’t speak English.

In a Thursday Facebook post, Zygielbaum wrote that his office is coordinating with the secretary of state’s office about the plan.

“Regardless of the DOJ’s presence, our election procedures and commitment to the voters of Adams County remain unchanged,” he wrote. “Our priority is to ensure every eligible voter can confidently cast their ballot, and every valid vote is counted through a secure, transparent, and accessible election process.”

DOJ this week began notifying the counties it wants to observe on Election Day, including jurisdictions in Oklahoma, Indiana, Utah and Michigan. Election monitors from the department are not atypical, and their job is to check for compliance with federal voting rights laws like the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Voting Accessibility for Elderly and Handicapped Act. There were monitors in 64 counties across the country for the 2022 midterm election, though none went to Colorado. Observers do not wear uniforms, talk to voters or intervene in the voting process.

Last month, the head of the Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon told a conservative news show that she intends to send 1,000 monitors out for the midterms, the “biggest DOJ election observer effort in history.” But President Donald Trump’s attempts to assert federal control over the election process, including eroding trust in mail-in voting and seeking sensitive state voter roll data, make the notice of DOJ election observers worrisome to some state leaders.

“When outsiders try to interfere, it’s because they know our collective power can change the direction of our state and our country,” Meghan Carrier, the executive director of the nonprofit Together Colorado said in a statement. “Voters hold the real power. We urge everyone to vote today, track your ballot, and encourage your neighbors to do the same. We won’t back down to intimidation.”

On Friday, the Democrats in Colorado’s congressional delegation sent a letter to Dillon asking whether the division plans to send any other monitors, whether DOJ communicated with the White House or the Department of Homeland Security about the plan and why the division is planning to send criminal division prosecutors, rather than civil staff, as monitors.

“There is nothing routine or conventional about the DOJ’s approach to its election monitoring program this year,” they wrote.

“This type of coordinated, bad-faith conduct subverts Congress’ and the states’ constitutional authority to regulate elections. The United States Department of Justice owes Coloradans answers about why federal officials are attempting to monitor our elections, and who those officials are.”

Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, did not have a comment about the election monitoring plan as of Friday afternoon.