For release: Oct. 8, 2020
Denver, Arapahoe Counties Team Up on Voting Access
Cobranded 24-Hour Ballot Drop Box in Glendale to Serve Voters from Both Counties
GLENDALE, Colo. Sept. 29, 2020 — Citing a desire to improve service to voters living and commuting along their counties’ borders, Denver County Clerk and Recorder Paul López and Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder Joan Lopez today announced their partnership maintaining a 24-hour ballot drop box near the Glendale Municipal Center at 950 S. Birch St.
“This box is the end result of months of planning, and the beginning of what we hope will be a long partnership to better serve voters,” said Arapahoe Clerk Joan Lopez. “A lot of residents and commuters from both counties use this box. Our collaboration will ensure their ballots will be safely delivered to the right place.”
“Clerk Lopez and I share a common vision to increase access to the ballot box and to make it as easy as possible for our voters,” Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul López said. “We are still in a pandemic and drop boxes are more important than ever. Most Denver voters return their ballot via 24-hour ballot drop box and we want to have as many contactless ballot return options available to our voters as possible.”
The cobranded ballot box represents the first partnership between Denver and Arapahoe Counties, and the second such cobranding agreement for Arapahoe County, which shares management duties for six drop boxes in Bennett, Strasburg and Aurora with Adams County.
The partnership means voters from either county can deposit their ballots in the drop box. Election officials then separate the ballots at a secure facility and deliver them to a ballot processing center in the appropriate county.
Counties alternate years of managing ballot pickup and delivery. Arapahoe County will pick up, separate and transfer ballots on even-numbered years, including in the upcoming General Election. Denver will manage those responsibilities during odd-numbered years, beginning in 2021.