DENVER (KDVR) — Just a day after Denver Mayor Mike Johnston unveiled his plans for next year’s city budget, a city leader is speaking out, saying a lack of funding would impact the way you vote.
The leader of Denver’s Chief Elections Official, Paul Lopez, said his department needs more funding to carry out the midterm elections next year. As of now, the mayor’s office is not budging.
“The greatest threat to democracy in Denver, Colorado is not coming from the Trump administration’s bombastic threats but instead the realistic cuts from Denver’s own mayor, right here in our own back yard,” said Lopez.
Lopez also said Johnston’s budget proposal underfunds his office by about $4.5 million.
“Mayor Johnston has said these cuts will not cut critical services. However, that is just not true. These cuts will absolutely cut the voters’ access to the ballot box and our polling centers,” said Lopez.
The mayor’s proposal has about $14.3 million budgeted for the Clerk and Recorder’s Office in 2026. That is down from about $14.5 million in 2025 and $18.7 million in 2024.
As a result, Lopez said voters can expect less access to ballot boxes, polling centers and about 300 fewer election judges.
“I believe that the clerk can make this work. I believe that it is the clerk’s responsibility to work within the budget that he has and within the dollars that we have. We all only have the dollars that we have and we’re all being asked to do more with less,” said Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office.
The Mayor’s Office said they met with the Clerk and Recorder’s office five times since April to negotiate, but said the negotiations never got anywhere. Lopez also said they have met nine times and that he plans to go to the Denver City Council for a budget amendment to add $4.5 million back to his office’s budget.
However, Johnstone already said he does not want to see any more cuts.
“If there were going to be amendments that were run that reduce allocations from certain departments to fund other departments, those departments are all cut to the bone. So if you were to reduce department spending, those departments would either face cuts to core services or layoffs,” said the mayor on Monday.
Lopez said he believes there are other ways to find this funding without cutting jobs, as the budget process will play out in the coming weeks through November.
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