Adams County could see up to 12 federal monitors on Election Day

There could be up to 12 federal election monitors in Adams County on Election Day next week, though they will not be allowed to go inside polling locations.

U.S. Justice Department spokesperson Kiersten Pels wrote in an email Friday that the department expects to deploy between four and 12 monitors to Adams. Justice originally intended to send four before it rejected terms from the secretary of state’s office that the monitors be accompanied by state representatives if the monitors enter voting centers.

Department lawyer Jake Bachand emailed Colorado election officials Thursday with the names of six additional monitors: DeAndre Adamich, Sarvenaz Danesh, Benjamin Essex, Michael Harris, Jorge Ortiz and Richard Roden. They will work in teams of two.

The federal monitors will be restricted to at least 100 feet away from buildings where election activity occurs, according to Colorado law.

​Federal officials reject ​Colorado’s conditions for election monitors in Adams County

They will “mostly be asking voters if they would voluntarily like to discuss their access to the polling location,” Pels said.

Justice planned to send monitors to Adams County to check compliance with federal voting rights laws, including accessibility for people with disabilities and Spanish-language availability. The county is a Democratic-leaning area of Colorado’s toss-up 8th Congressional District, where Republican Rep. Gabe Evans is facing a challenge from Democrat Manny Rutinel.

The federal government sent monitors to 64 counties in 24 states in 2022. The monitors are typically civil staff members, but some of the monitors this year are criminal prosecutors. The head of Justice’s Civil Rights Division said it plans to deploy around 1,000 monitors around the country Tuesday.

Various experts and officials worry that the large-scale operation could be a strategy to intimidate voters in a battleground race, amid other escalating actions by the Trump administration to control elections and cast doubt on results.

Election Day is Nov. 3. More information about how to register to vote and cast a ballot can be found at GoVoteColorado.gov.