Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul López has made it clear: Voter services will be cut if Mayor Mike Johnston’s current budget passes.
On Tuesday, López released a map showing which in-person voting centers and ballot boxes would be eliminated for the 2026 elections. (Next month’s elections won’t be impacted, no matter what happens with the budget.)
Cuts will affect more than 20 sites across every Denver City Council district. Those include the Denver Museum of Science, the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Hampden Branch Library, the Harvey Park Recreation Center, the Hiawatha Davis Recreation Center, the Denver Coliseum and many more.
All drive-through locations would also be closed.
“We chose these locations based on cost while weighing the least impact to voters in these areas of the city,” Clerk and Recorder spokesperson Mikayla Ortega wrote Denverite. “Every single one we choose was difficult to make and we’re remaining steadfast in our hope that Council will assist with a budget amendment.”
But the mayor’s office doesn’t buy the legitimacy of the map.
“This is just another exaggerated claim from Clerk López, who continues to use scare tactics to distract from the fact that he has refused to join other city leaders and agencies in making cuts during a period of shared sacrifice,” Johnston spokesperson Jon Ewing said.
Though Denver has mail-in voting, most voters don’t use it.
“Only 6% of Denver voters return their ballots by mail,” Ortega wrote. “60% return their ballots using 24-hour drop boxes and 24% use our polling centers.”
López says he needs an extra $4.5 million, for a total of $18.7 million, from the proposed 2026 budget to run the 2026 midterm elections adequately.
The Clerk and Recorder has called Johnston’s proposed 2026 budget a “threat to democracy” and pledged to “fight like hell” for election integrity.
A bleak budget
Sales taxes are down. City spending has exceeded revenue. Cuts citywide have been necessary to close a $200 million projected budget gap.
The mayor’s office wonders why López thinks his office should not require a shared sacrifice.
“His budget is going to be cut by 1.5 percent,” Ewing said. “That's what's in the proposal: $200,000 from last year.”
Other departments have seen cuts higher than 20 percent.
Ewing said the mayor’s office has tried to find common ground with López and claims he has been unwilling to compromise.
“As the Clerk’s proposed budget will be more than he was allocated during the last midterm election in 2022 and represents only a $200,000 reduction from this year’s budget, we are confident that Clerk Lopez can deliver safe and equitable access to elections in 2026,” Ewing said. “In tough times, Denverites deserve leadership that confronts tough challenges head on, not political posturing and maneuvering.”
