Boulder County election officials say they are complying with state law that demands each political party gets an equal share of election judges at the county voting centers, but Republicans disagree.
A spokesperson denies Boulder County Elections is giving away slots in voting centers to Democrats and unaffiliated judges that should be going to Republican-trained judges. The Boulder County GOP made those claims in social media posts this week.
Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Molly Fitzpatrick, a Democrat, is “using our Republican election judge positions in Vote Centers to train Democrats and Unaffiliated judges,” the message states. “This is illegal and against State Law C.R.S. 1-6-104. It should be 50-50..(50% Republican and 50% Democrat).”
“She (Fitzpatrick) is short changing our judges by giving away our slots that we should be filling,” GOP members were told. “ We have the judges trained and available to work these positions but she won't put them on the schedule. Instead we are being left out. Told to stay home and wait until they see when they need us. We can not tolerate this blatant abuse of the law.”
Boulder County Elections is complying with all statutes and have GOP judges working at every vote center this week during the first phase of vote center operations, next weekend during Phase 2, and during the final two days when all vote centers are operating, Mircalla Wozniak, spokesperson for Boulder County Elections said via email.
The overall issue, Wozniak said, is that the GOP party cannot supply enough election judges to fill all the positions needed for the final days up to and during the election.
“At full staffing on election day at our Vote Centers we will have 252 people working. In an ideal world, half would be Republicans and half Democrats,” Wozniak said. “We will have every available Vote Center Republican judge working those last two days when we are at full capacity.
She said the county has many more Republican election judges working in its ballot processing, as well.
The vote center schedule follows:
- Phase 1: Now through next Thurs, Nov 3: 5 total Vote Centers open
- Phase 2: Fri Nov 4 and Sat Nov 5: 12 total Vote Centers open
- Phase 3: Mon, Nov 7 and Tues, Nov 8: 19 total Vote Centers open
The law allows the county to hire other individuals as election judges if one party does not have enough individuals to serve as judges, Wozniak said. If that is the case, the county tries to fill slots with mostly unaffiliated judges.
“These judges also need at least one vote center work shift prior to being expected to work the busiest last two days of the election, which is what we are doing this week and next — having these mostly unaffiliated judges work at least one “early voting” vote center shift,” Wozniak said.
The GOP is asking that their people get multiple “early voting” vote center workday shifts instead of allowing these judges to get one day of early voting work experience, she said. All GOP judges are also required to work at least one early voting shift. “They are not getting less hours,” she said.
“...We are in full compliance and have GOP judges working at every vote center this week, next, and through Election Day,” Wozniak said.
