López continued from page 6 this victory, no matter how big or small it is, it feels so good; it’s a high. And you know there’s a larger spirit at work, and you are part of that. That’s what drives change: organizers. [After college], I went to Chi- cago and learned how to do community organizing. Then went to DALF [Denver Area Labor Federation] and SEIU [Service Employees International Union] after that. Then they sent me back to Chicago, to help home health-care workers organize. And then Houston, to help janitors there organize for the fi rst time. Organized janitors in these buildings here, where my father worked. I actually organized my father’s shop. The fi rst time he ever had health care in his life was when I organized that damn shop. That was mighty Coors, whose subcontractors went union. And my father now has a little bit of retirement and some health care. I could have done other things. Why did you choose to run for a city council seat at such a young age? Literally, was just driving down Federal Boulevard one day, and thought, Man.... I was a union organizer, had gotten arrested a few times, loved every moment of it. And I was like, I just drove from the other side of town, and Federal is beat up. No coffee shops, but I can’t tell you how many pawn shops and liquor stores. There are no grocery stores. The streets are all jacked up. Damn, those tags have been on that wall forever. And the worst thing is, you see people walking around with their heads held low. And I thought to myself, If there was ever a physical manifestation of the discrimination in which we live, here it is. And you know, I never wanted to run for offi ce. I did not like politicians. The Denver Elections Division just fi n- ished conducting its bipartisan audit of the primary as it was legally supposed to do. Meanwhile, we’ve had news reports of a pri- vate group going door-to-door asking voters what candidates they voted for and by what method they cast their ballot. What’s wrong with a private group attempting that kind of backward inventory of completed voting by visiting people at their homes? There’s nothing wrong with elections here. To believe that elections are rigged or somehow faulty in Colorado is a lie. These are people who cannot lose with grace. Unfortunately, those folks are trying to undermine what has already been estab- lished and has already been proven to be transparent, to be secure, to be professional and to be bipartisan. They are trying to create their own outcomes. We even have 24-hour live feed of our bal- 8 lot processing so people can see what’s going on. We are set up for that level of transparency. The other thing about it is that in our com- munities with new Americans, sometimes they’re afraid to vote because they think that we’re going to fi nd out how they voted and we’re going to make somebody disappear. They say, Where we come from, you go missing if you don’t vote for the right person. How do we know you guys don’t do that? Well, check it out: When you get your ballot, the only thing that has your name is the enve- 24/7, and nobody does. This whole narrative of monkey business — no, it doesn’t happen. What else do you see as part of the role of a clerk? I didn’t come to this job as an elections expert. I came into this role because we have to defend this democracy. And I know that becomes a cliché and it sounds like a hashtag, but it truly is in defense of our de- mocracy. That’s what we’re defending. My grandfather and my grandmother’s broth- ers — that’s why they fought. And I’m not asking that people go suit up and go defend our democracy abroad. But my grandfather and my grandmother’s brothers — that’s why they fought. People fought in the streets for the right to vote. I was in the streets. I’m not asking for you to do that, I’m just asking for you to vote. Just participate. Turnout was low in the primary. Was that because so many races were uncontested? It typically is, in the primary. A lot of it has to do with campaigns: Is there an active race, are people knocking on doors, are they get- ting mail, are they getting phone calls? And whatever is on the ballot helps drive it, too. But in a democracy, voting is one part. The other is, what are you doing to participate before and after you vote? What are you do- ing every day to keep this a democracy? What are you doing if you’re one of the people who cannot vote, to make sure you have a voice? And the people who cannot vote in the City Once a Westsider, always a Westsider. lope, and once we verify your signature and we determine that that’s you, [the ballot and the envelope] separate, and they never see each other again. And then we go count the ballots. And guess what? We don’t work for the parties. I’m a Democrat — and that’s be- cause I have a First Amendment right to be a Democrat — but these are Republicans and Democrats working together. It’s the people who run the elections — the people, not the parties. And when you’re speaking to the new American audience, or even just the average layperson, what do you want people to remem- ber in terms of having their ballots counted? Vote early. It’s a paper ballot, we mail it to you. Let’s go back a little bit. Always check your registration. You may have moved, you may have gotten married, you may determine that Apollo sounds better than Paul, I think I’m going to go with Apollo now. You may have a DJ name, right? Check your registration. Double-check it. Every time, before every election, just to make sure. For the most part, people already know they’re registered, but because of the way people have been moving, because of gentrifi cation, because of the population gain, especially if you’re young, you want to do that. Then sign up for Ballot Trace. Not Ballot Trace — it’s BallotTrax now. We changed the system. Because we want people like my family members who live in Adams and Arapahoe to be able to sit at the same table. And you can always talk about BallotTrax, no matter what county you live in, right? The next step is, make sure you sign your ballot. Sign it, and don’t think twice about it — sign it how you normally sign. And then vote. Literally: Check your registration, sign up for BallotTrax, get your ballot, sign it when you’re done voting, and go drop it off. You want to go vote in person, be my guest. We’ve got plenty of vote centers. And this year coming up, we’re going to have West and North and South and East. Manual. These are already community centers that people know and have an affi nity for. Why not make them vote centers? A long time ago, we used to do that, when we had precinct polling. Now they’re all vote centers. And they’re places that people have a connection to, so they want to go. We’ve got 42 boxes now. When I started, we only had 28. We have a box in Swansea. Westwood. Corky Gonzales Library has a box. And his great-grandchild was there with her mom, Serena, a state rep, voting. [Gonzales] was chairman of the Crusade for Justice. And we have put boxes down in areas where you don’t think there would be boxes. They are 24/7 secured. We have one at Windsor Gardens because of our aging community out there. They are high- participation. They could just mail their ballots, but they like going to vote. Mobility is an issue. So we did a partnership there, and we have agreements in place to permit that. And if anybody tries to do anything stupid to one of our boxes, we’ve got a camera on it and County of Denver include... Undocumented people, minors, and people who are serving an active felony. However, we have gone into the jail and not only registered voters, but we have set up our fi rst vote center inside Denver County Jail for folks who cannot afford their freedom. There is somebody who doesn’t have their freedom because they can’t afford it, and they’re waiting for a judge, and they’re about to be disenfranchised if we don’t go over there and offer them that constitutional right. Why you’re here, it’s none of my business. My busi- ness is, are you a registered voter? Then you have a right to vote. That was in partnership with the Denver Sheriff Department, the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition and the League of Women Voters. And it doesn’t end there. We’ve gone to homeless camps, and we will continue to do it. They have to have a place where we can mail them a ballot. That can be the Samari- tan House. It could be a P.O. box, it could be a friend’s house. But their physical location doesn’t have to be a home. It can literally say “the corner of Colfax” — and the mayor’s not going to like this, but I don’t care — “Colfax and Bannock.” That can be your home. “Tent at Barnum Park, on the Federal and Sixth side.” We have other ways of identifying the voter, through their signature, through an ID. Just ’cause you’re unhoused doesn’t mean you can’t vote. These are the folks people forget about. We fi ght those battles constantly. I created an engagement team. Why? Be- cause not everybody is on Twitter. Or Face- book. And also because we need to be in Warren Village. We need to go down and speak to the Russian community. We need to meet with the elders in the Vietnamese community. We need to be in the continued on page 9 AUGUST 4-10, 2022 WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | westword.com EVAN SEMÓN
