Cameras capable of livestreaming ballot box activity are up and running around El Paso County as of Tuesday morning.

Next month’s coordinated election will be the first in the county to feature the cameras, which officials completed installing at each of the 39 ballot boxes around the county last week. Residents can watch 24/7 footage of each ballot box, and officials will be able to access specific shots captured when cameras are triggered by movement.

Ballots were mailed to residents Monday.

County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker said the purchase and installation of the cameras was a priority for his time in office and that he believes they are a large step toward increasing election integrity.

“We have now allowed for a lot more efficiency, effectiveness and transparency in our election process, but most importantly, we’re saving taxpayer money on CORA requests,” Schleiker said during a Board of County Commissioners meeting Tuesday.

While boxes have previously required surveillance under Colorado law, “archaic” cameras only reliant on electricity complicated where boxes could be installed in more rural places like Cascade, and retrieving massive video files for residents requesting footage under the Colorado Open Records Act could take weeks, he said.

Schleiker recently received a complaint from resident group Integrity Matters alleging “anomalies” in some of the ballot returns for the city’s April 4 municipal election, such as instances of two dead residents casting ballots; no ballot box video coverage for 42% of the votes cast; and concerns over ballots with missing or illegible transit logs, among others.

The El Paso County Clerk’s Office does not have jurisdiction to hear complaints related entirely to a home-rule municipal election, Schleiker previously said, but because the city used county camera equipment, the county had to respond to over 10 CORA requests for footage.

Such requests could rack up “thousands” in fees for the requester, he said.

Schleiker said the new video footage can also be stored more efficiently for up to 10 years, which “far exceeds” the 25 months required by law.

The new cameras are also electric and solar-powered, and county staff will be able to monitor the battery level of each camera from online.

“In the past, we were never notified if a camera lost Wi-Fi, if there was no electrical power or if the camera was down, and it took a lot of staff time each day to go check those 39 cameras (manually) to make sure they were functioning during an election,” Schleiker said.

Because the cameras’ manufacturer, Sensera Systems, is based just west of Denver in Golden, issues with or receiving new parts for a particular camera can be resolved within hours, Schleiker said.

Overall, the cameras cost about $180,000 to purchase and install, he said.

“It was money well spent,” he said.

Click or tap here for ballot box locations.

Click or tap here to view livestreams at the county’s 39 ballot boxes.