Secretary Griswold’s Priority to Increase Protections for Election Officials and Workers Passes House Committee on State Affairs

Denver, April 7, 2022 - Today, HB22-1273, the Election Official Protection Act, one of Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s top priorities this legislative session passed out of the House Committee on State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs with bipartisan support. The bill will provide additional protections for election officials and workers throughout the state against threats and doxing and is sponsored by Representatives Monica Duran (D-Wheat Ridge) and Emily Sirota (D-Denver), and Senate President Steve Fenberg (D-Boulder) and Senator Brittany Pettersen (D-Lakewood).

“No one should have to worry about their safety when serving as an election administrator,” said Secretary Griswold. “By protecting our election workers and officials, we safeguard our democracy. I thank Representatives Duran and Sirota, Senate President Fenberg and Senator Pettersen for their leadership on this important legislation."

According to a recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice, one in three U.S. election officials has felt unsafe in their job and one in six have reported receiving threats because of their work carrying out elections. These threats have also increased in Colorado, and Republican, Democratic, and Unaffiliated election officials have been targeted for administering safe and secure elections in the state. 

The Election Official Protection Act establishes election officials and workers as a protected class against doxing, which is the release of personal information for the purpose of threatening a person or their family. Doxing an election official would constitute a Class 1 Misdemeanor penalty, carrying with it a fine of up to $1,000 and/or imprisonment in county jail of up to 364 days. The bill would also allow professional election workers to file a request to government entities to remove their personal information from online records if the person feels the release of their information could pose a threat to their safety.

The bill also prohibits intimidating, threatening or coercing an election official while they are performing official duties or retaliating against them for performing their official duties. Threatening an election official is a Class 2 Misdemeanor which will be punished by a fine of up to $750 and or up to 120 days imprisonment.

A summary of the bill can be found here and the full text of the bill can be found here.

More information on Secretary Griswold’s legislative priorities for the 2022 Colorado Legislative Session can be found here.