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In the NoCo

It's Election Day. Here’s how Colorado election officials make voting secure

A detailed view of the Flatiron Marketplace Ballot Drop Box as a voter drops off their ballot.
Andrew Wevers
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Andrew Wevers
"Clerks across the state are facing a lot of mis- and disinformation about our elections process," says Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Molly Fitpatrick. "What I'm seeing around the state is clerks doubling down on transparency measures to really ensure that voters understand the process."

It's Election Day in Colorado. And along with who wins or loses, something that a lot of people are thinking about today is election security.

After all, elections are complicated: Millions of Colorado voters will fill out and turn in their ballots. And county election officials will gather and tally them – quickly.

On top of that, some recent headlines have called Colorado’s election systems into question. Mesa County officials reported recently that someone stole 12 mail ballots and returned them. And news broke last week that the Colorado Secretary of State’s office accidentally posted some security passwords on their website. State officials say they’ve fixed that problem, and election systems around the state have not been compromised.

Even so, we wanted to look at the steps that make sure your ballot is collected and counted securely. Two county clerks – people whose job is to keep ballots secure – walked us through some of Colorado’s election safeguards.

ITN’s Erin O’Toole spoke with Molly Fitzpatrick, a Democrat from Boulder County, and Carly Koppes, a Republican from Weld County.

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.
As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.
Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS Newshour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.
Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.