Mobile and express vote centers

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

Even in mail-ballot voting states like Colorado, in-person vote centers are critical. Voter Service and Polling Centers (VSPCs) offer voting equipment for people with disabilities, same-day registration, and additional services such as replacement ballots. While the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t change things for most Colorado voters—95% of whom return their ballots via mail or drop box—it did pose a significant challenge with respect to the 5% who use VSPC locations. Jefferson County, which has about 430,000 registered voters, stretches from the western suburbs of Denver to more rural areas in the Rocky Mountain foothills. To keep voters and election workers safe, the Jeffco Elections division came up with some creative solutions. First, the team retrofitted an enclosed trailer into a mobile vote center so that voters could obtain services outside at a VSPC too small for social distancing or election workers could relocate the trailer to a VSPC in case of an emergency closure. We then took our largest vote centers and split them into two by adding large tents with generators and voting equipment in the parking lots. That enabled us to process twice the voters, increasing efficiency and reducing crowds, while enabling voters to cast ballots outside, which entails a lower risk of transmission. The mobile and express voting sites afforded voters peace of mind and shorter wait times.