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11 05 24 Denver County Clerk & Recorder Paul López talks about election day today
But there's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one. Member FDIC. I don't know if you know this, but when you don't have time to read The Washington Post, you can listen to it. Almost every article has a listening option, and right now you can become a Washington Post subscriber for just 50 cents a week. It's an incredible deal. Stay on top of what's happening by signing up at washingtonpost.com/pod. Deciding on what to listen to is hard. Using Zummo to stream music from iHeart90's radio is easy. Or play iHeart Country, or hip-hop beats. Your choice, all for free. Stream easy with Zummo Play. Outlive and on-demand entertainment with no log-ins, no sign-ups, no accounts, no hassle. This November, get cozy and stay in from movie night with Air Force One starring Harrison Ford and Glenn Close, and The Art of War starring Wesley Snipes, all streaming free on Zummo Play. Go to play.zummo.com now. Life is hard. Zummo is easy. It is Colorado's Morning News, Election Day 2024. Marty Lenz-Gina Ganda, good morning. It is Election Day, one of the busiest days for county clerks across our state. And joining us live now on the QA Common Spirit Health Hotline is Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul Lopez. Clerk Lopez, thank you so much for your time this morning. No, thank you. Hey, it's very early to kick off Election Day. However, we're going to start with some numbers thrown at you right now. What do we have so far when it comes to election turnout, both in the Denver area statewide? And how does it compare to what we saw in 2020? Well, I know the numbers that we have here in Denver is at 52% turnout. I don't think we're that far away in terms of statewide. And also, you know, we're behind 2020, well, 2020 was just a completely different ball game with COVID and everything else. But we're, you know, just a few points behind where we were in 2016. Paul, 52% is a good spot to be in. Sorry about that, Paul. I was going to ask, do you think there's maybe the differences this year where everybody seemed to vote early? And you're right, different circumstances from four years ago, necessarily. But how about were you anticipating maybe a greater walk up and walk in vote on, on actual Election Day? Yeah, no, we usually get, we're starting to get hit pretty hard on Election Day. So, you know, we expect there to be a lot of folks coming to the ballot, to the polls and to the drop boxes. And it's that easy. And if you have a ballot that, you know, is damaged or you want a replacement ballot, you can do that. And you go to Senate 39 of them around the city. Like you mentioned, 2020 was a lot different to what we're seeing now in 2024. But do you think one of the main reasons why we're seeing a little lower of a turnout was just the lengths of what we saw in the Denver ballot? Yeah, that ballot's very long. And that is exactly right. It's a long ballot. So, you know, if it's a bit of a doozy, so make sure that you fill that out and take it to any drop box and make sure you sign that back to that envelope. That's the easiest way to do it. Take it to a drop box, 45 from around Denver, Denver Votes.org. You can put it in any drop box, actually, in Colorado, and it'll get to us. If you'll only do it before 17. Paul, have you been fielding more questions from voters in regards to what happened with the Secretary of State's office and then, secondarily, have you taken any further precautions in light of what happened as well with that situation and leak passwords? You know, I think because of the, you know, the fast-acting, you know, correction of those of those passwords and those bios, bios, passwords, everything else, you know, we were able to confirm that nothing was compromised and there was no tampering. So, you know, I think folks are pretty satisfied with that and we are and, you know, we're asking folks just to continue to vote. Don't let that harm or try to undermine your confidence in elections. It is secure around the country and especially here in Denver. When was your office notified of the partial passwords leak and do you wish you were notified sooner on it? I mean, it's very unfortunate that we were, you know, notified when the public was notified, you know, however, you know, for us, it's just focused on making sure that our voters can continue to have that confidence to be able to put their ballots in our boxes and get it to us by 7 p.m. today. So, you know, it is what it is where you have an election to run and we have, you know, folks that need to show up to the polls. I know we asked this last time when you were on, but what kind of precautions safety-wise are you taking for yourself and for your poll workers, your team, that are trying to adjudicate the election? Yeah, no. That's great. We have amazing bipartisan poll workers from both parties, unaffiliated that are working side by side. It really is country before party here and, you know, they've been trained with all kind of safety protocols. We make sure that they've received the training before, after, during, you know, the building is secure. All our drop boxes is secure. We have eyes on them all the time. Our vote centers are secure. People should know that it is safe and secure to participate in this election. And then clerk Lopez, again, just give us all the details of what voters need to know if they'd like to vote in person, register in person, drop off the ballot, and just the timeline of what you guys are expecting for a very, very busy election day. You can do all the above. You can take it to a drop box. You can request the replacement ballot. You can visit a vote center and even register to vote same day, but make sure you do that at a vote center no later than 7 p.m. today. Don't you have your ballot ready? Drop it off in a box. Don't wait until the end to do it. Don't don't wait for that high, I guess, through the excitement or adrenaline rushes. What you're saying. So Denver, Denver Clerk and recorder Paul Lopez. Thank you, Paul. Thank you. Well, there's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado. There's only one member FDIC. I don't know if you know this, but when you don't have time to read the Washington Post, you can listen to it. Almost every article has a listening option, and right now you can become a Washington Post subscriber for just 50 cents a week. It's an incredible deal. Stay on top of what's happening by signing up at washingtonpost.com/pod. That's washingtonpost.com/p-o-d. Deciding on what to listen to is hard. Using Zoomo to stream music from iHeart90's radio is easy, or play iHeart Country or hip-hop beats. It's a choice, all for free. Stream easy with Zoomo Play. Get live and on-demand entertainment with no log-ins, no sign-ups, no accounts, no hassle. This November, get cozy and stay in from movie night with Air Force One starring Harrison Ford and Glenn Close and The Art of War starring Wesley Snipes. All streaming free on Zoomo Play. Go to play.zoomo.com now. Life is hard. Zoomo is easy.