The Denver Elections Division is a division of the Office of the Clerk and Recorder. It administers all of the public elections within the City and County of Denver, performs all voter registration functions, and provides voting-related services to voters, elected officials, campaign groups, and other voting interests.

 

Mission Statement: To conduct Denver's elections in a fair, accurate, accessible, secure, transparent and efficient manner; to educate and encourage the public to participate in the political process; and to maintain accurate voter registration and election records.

 

The division replaced the former Denver Election Commission in January 2007, following a voter-approved change to the Denver City Charter. The commission had been an independent agency administering Denver elections for approximately 100 years.

 

Following significant problems with the November 2006 elections, Mayor John Hickenlooper and City Council President Michael Hancock convened an investigative panel on elections. This panel conducted public hearings and an audit of Denver elections. Following the recommendations of the panel, a successful special election was held in January 2007 abolishing the Election Commission and placing responsibility for elections under the authority of an elected Clerk and Recorder.

 

In May 2007, Stephanie O'Malley became Denver's first elected clerk and recorder. In August 2007, Ms. O'Malley appointed Michael Scarpello as Denver's elections director. Shortly thereafter, Ms. O'Malley and Mr. Scarpello convened the 2008 Elections Model Advisory Committee, to examine in detail all of the options for future voting choices in Denver.

 

Mike set to work to completely reorganize the structure and functions of the new Elections Division. He created a strategic plan that governed much of the activity that would take place in the division in 2008, along with a new organizational chart to match new functional processes.

The restructuring called for in the new strategic plan required a move from the cramped downtown location to a larger space designed to improve the workflow of ballot processing and counting. The new building, located at 3888 E. Mexico Avenue (map and directions), significantly improves ballot processing workflow while allowing for greater public transparency. Public observers will have ample space and opportunity to observe ballot processing without causing security or work interruption concerns.

 

Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O'Malley and the Elections Division received praise from Denver City Council and from other observers for the success and smoothness of Denver's 2008 elections. Voters were offered three different ways to vote: by mail, early voting at any of 13 locations across the city, or Election Day voting at one of 185 assigned precinct polling places.

 

Paper ballots were used, allowing many more voting booths to be offered than in the past. Paper pollbooks on Election Day eliminated the potential for e-pollbook failure. A new training process for poll workers resulted in better customer service at the polling places. Several new innovations in the process allowed voting lines to move quickly, even though the 2008 ballot was quite lengthy. And a record number of voters opted to vote by mail.

 

In the November 2008 elections, approximately 172,000 voters returned mail-in ballots, just over 50,000 took advantage of early voting, and about 43,000 voted on Election Day with no unreasonable lines. Mail ballot drop-off was accommodated at all early and Election Day polling places. Denver was the first large county in the metro area to complete its ballot counting on election night and finish posting its unofficial results. Ballot processing was transparent, as it took place behind large glass windows where the general public could observe all ballot handling.

 

An informal audit of Election Day voter experience at polling places by the Denver Auditor resulted in a favorable report. Also as a direct result of the success of the 2008 elections, Stephanie O'Malley was named Lawyer of the Year by Law Week Colorado.

 

 
Archived Historical Material

Archived meeting records from the former Election Commission are available here.