Candidate Interview: Amanda Gonzalez — CO Secretary of State

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• Transcript

  My name is Amanda Gonzalez and I am running for Colorado Secretary of State. I am running for Colorado Secretary of State because the next person in this job needs to be ready on day one to protect Colorado’s elections and make sure that every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot and have their ballot accurately counted. I am currently the clerk and recorder in Jefferson County, where I run elections for nearly half a million voters. And you know, in that role, Jefferson County has had the highest voter turnout that we’ve ever seen. And that is key, because democracy only works when everyone participates. I am somebody that very much believes that we make better decisions organizationally when we have broader tables, right? That you don’t want only your perspective to be represented. And so, yeah, I’ve been the CEO of a small business where I oversee, I oversaw a vertically integrated cannabis company. There we go. I have also run a voting rights non-profit called Colorado Common Cause. And and I will tell you, I have made, you know, unfortunately, some boneheaded decisions in those roles. And often they were the result of not having a broad enough table around me to say, you know, hey, actually, that’s not a great day to schedule that thing or that’s not going to be the way to best reach that community. You know, having folks that are from those communities that represent different backgrounds was really crucial. I don’t know that it’s so much an undoing as work that we have to continue to do right. So I’ve mentioned that the reason that I’m running for this office is I want to defend the right to vote for every eligible voter, whether that is Democrat, Republican or unaffiliated. And I know that our democracy has not always worked for everyone. It literally was not built to work for everyone. And I think that we still have some gaps there, right? I think there’s a lot of work that we need to continue to do to ensure that voters with disabilities are able to have their voices heard. And I think that there is still a lot that we have to do around accessibility of ballots more generally. I am really proud of the work that I did on a bill that dramatically expanded the number of counties that have to translate their ballots. And, you know, I think that is a good first start, and there’s more work to be done. So the Secretary of State’s office is not a legislative office, and of course, won’t be voting on specific policies, but does have authority around rulemaking for elections and the other purview of the office. And so, you know, while this role isn’t specifically voting on policies that, you know, are going to make it easier for folks to afford their groceries, it is the way that people have their voices heard in all of those policies. So if you are worried about your neighbors being able to afford their rent and their grocery bill in the same month, you have to be able to have your voice heard in your elections, which means we have to protect the right to vote via mail. We have to ensure that we have great in-person options for voting. We have to make sure that we’re continuing to expand the number of drop boxes that are available in communities, essentially making it as convenient as possible for eligible voters to vote, because ultimately, they are the ones that are going to have the say and be able to make, you know, more affordability around housing, around groceries, around healthcare. So the first is we need to make sure that we are protecting the right to vote. And that includes from interference from our federal government. Colorado should be the one that is making election law for our state. We have one of the best systems in the entire country. And the evidence of that is that we have one of the highest voter turnouts in the entire country, right? You know, democracy is working when everybody is participating. And so my top priority is going to be protecting our elections, making sure that we’re maintaining that accessibility for voters. And we’re resisting any interference from the federal government. You know, I also want to make sure that we are increasing accessibility. I’ve mentioned some of that work around making sure that we have options for people with disabilities, making sure that we have options for voters for whom English isn’t their first language, making sure that voters know when they are eligible to vote. A great example of that is that many people who have had involvement with our criminal justice system might not realize that they’re actually eligible to vote. But in Colorado, if you are done with your sentence, if you are on probation or parole, you are eligible to vote. And so making sure that people understand their rights and that we are creating a democracy in Colorado that is as inclusive as as I think we all dreamed that it can be. As I think about opportunities going forward, we know that elections are only getting more complicated, right? 30 years ago, you didn’t have the same IT concerns or the same communication concerns that you have today. The people who run our elections are increasing, increasingly facing threats. And all of that is a burden on our election system. And I never want it to get between a voter and their ballot. And so some of the things that I am thinking about that, you know, do cost money are around making sure that the clerks and recorders in every community, whether that is urban or rural, have the resources they need. I currently run elections in Jefferson County, which is one of the largest in the state. And, you know, I have a total of 115 employees. I have a full-time communications person. I have a full-time IT person. And if you are a clerk in Archuleta or Saguache, you likely do not have those same kind of resources. And so I’m excited about the opportunity for the Secretary of State to utilize some economies of scale to make sure that clerks have what they need, because whether you are in Jefferson County or Weld County or La Plata, you are facing the same threats to elections, the same mis- and disinformation that you have to combat to make sure that your voters have accurate information about elections. I’d love to tell you about some of the initiatives that I’ve launched as the clerk in Jeffco. So one of the very first things that I did is I created a community engagement team. So we know that there are people that know where to find accurate information and feel really safe and welcomed in big government buildings. And there are members of our community that for whom that’s just not as accessible. Right. And so we knew that we had to get out in the community to make sure that we were talking to voters who need that accurate information. And so we were at every pie festival, every harvest festival, every high school, every laundromat, and every dispensary that would take us setting up a table to say, hey, do you have questions about voting? Do you need to update your voter registration? Oftentimes, you have to go out into the community, and that is a principle that I will take with me into the Secretary of State’s office. The second principle is around transparency. You know, I think that it is healthy to have questions about our democracy. It’s not healthy to make threats. Right. But if you have honest questions about how voting works, or maybe you saw something on the news that seemed weird to you, that’s great. And so what we’ve done in Jeffco is we have opened up our ballot processing facilities. We give tours on a regular basis. If you want to know how it works, like literally come on down, take a field trip and see for yourself how we are processing. Every step of ballot processing happens in bipartisan teams. Come see the chain of custody and how that works. Come see that. You know, all votes are counted on paper. Come see that we do a risk-limiting audit afterwards. Come see every step in that process. Because I think that is what helps inspire trust in our democracy. Dogs I you know, my little guy is asleep right now. Otherwise I would show him too. But Charlie is a senior with a heart condition who takes nine pills a day, and I just adore him. So I also serve on the board of the Colorado Pet Pantry. So making sure that families don’t have to separate from their pets just because they can’t afford food for a little while. Right back to that affordability question that impacts all of us. And so and then my other answer is live music. I absolutely love live music. It’s like the unique way that I get to turn my brain off. And so I love getting to go to many of Colorado’s beautiful music venues.