Federal Monitors Plan for Adams County Vote Blocked Without State Approval

Colorado officials are requiring the U.S. Department of Justice to seek state approval before sending federal observers into non-public election spaces in Adams County on Nov. 3, setting up a dispute over authority in a suburban Denver county that decides a closely divided congressional seat. The DOJ Civil Rights Division notified Adams County Clerk Josh Zygielbaum on Tuesday of its plan to send monitors, but Colorado Deputy Secretary of State Andrew Kline responded Thursday with a letter to DOJ Attorney Jake Bachand asserting that state law governs access.

Kline's letter states that Colorado is not subject to any relevant court orders or settlement agreements and that the statutes cited by the DOJ do not grant the department authority to observe activities in non-public spaces. Kline requested details on each proposed observer, including the time and location of their intended monitoring. The secretary of state's office provided the correspondence on Friday.

Adams County's northern Denver suburbs form the more Democratic-leaning portion of Colorado's 8th Congressional District, which has produced extremely close results in both elections since its creation in 2021. The contest between Republican Rep. Gabe Evans and Democrat Manny Rutinel will factor in which party controls Congress. Weld County, which includes the district's more heavily Republican half, received no similar notice, officials there said. The DOJ sent a notice to conservative-leaning Douglas County on Wednesday by mistake and reversed course Thursday afternoon.

DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels said Adams County was selected because it is covered under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act for language assistance, which applies to jurisdictions where at least 5% of voters do not speak English. The department has begun notifying counties it plans to observe, including jurisdictions in Oklahoma, Indiana, Utah and Michigan. There were monitors in 64 counties during the 2022 midterms, with none deployed to Colorado. Observers do not wear uniforms, speak with voters, or intervene in the voting process.

Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon said last month on a conservative news show that she intends to deploy 1,000 monitors for the midterms, calling it the largest DOJ election observer effort in history. On Friday, Colorado's congressional Democrats sent a letter to Dhillon asking whether the division plans to send additional monitors, whether the DOJ coordinated with the White House or the Department of Homeland Security, and why criminal division prosecutors rather than civil staff are being used. "There is nothing routine or conventional about the DOJ's approach to its election monitoring program this year," they wrote.

Zygielbaum said Thursday on Facebook that his office is coordinating with the secretary of state's office. "Regardless of the DOJ's presence, our election procedures and commitment to the voters of Adams County remain unchanged," he wrote. Secretary of State Jena Griswold had no comment as of Friday afternoon.