DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis (D-Colorado), U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Attorney General Phil Weiser, and Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul D. López held a press conference Monday morning to discuss voting-by-mail in Colorado.
Bennet, Polis, Griswold, Weiser, and López discussed how they believe Colorado can serve as a national model to successfully expand vote-by-mail.
The state leaders went over the various safeguards in place in Colorado to prevent voter fraud, and said ballot signatures are verified by a bi-partisan team of judges.
Polis said the state has set the national gold standard when it comes to elections, and that voting-by-mail is not a partisan issue.
"We are proud in Colorado that we've led the way by demonstrating how safe and secure and reliable vote-by-mail can be," Polis said.
Griswold said that voting-by-mail for all is the responsible way to run an election during a pandemic.
"It's 2020 and no American should be forced to risk their life to cast a vote," Griswold said. "Voting by mail is like wearing a mask, it can save lives and help stop the spread of COVID-19."
Griswold also defended the state’s largely mail-in voting system and said it needs to further bolster its capacity due to the pandemic during a press conference last week.
President Donald Trump has previously alleged that cutting U.S. Postal Service funding would starve the agency of money Democrats say it needs to process an anticipated surge in mail-ballots during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Griswold referred to Trump’s comments that he opposes additional funding to the USPS as “voter suppression.”
Colorado set a record for the highest-ever turnout for a non-presidential primary, with over 99% of votes cast using mail-in ballots in June, according to a news release from the Colorado governor's office.
You can watch the full press conference below:
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