YOUR AD HERE »

DA Candidate Bruce Brown asked to leave Silverthorne polling place

5th Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown
Courtesy | Summit Daily News

District Attorney Bruce Brown, who is currently running for re-election, was present at a polling place at the Silverthorne Pavilion this morning. According to election officials, this was in violation of a rule barring any electioneering activity within 100 feet of a polling place. An election supervisor said he asked Brown to leave and he complied without incident.

Brown declined to comment, but confirmed that he was present at the Pavilion. Eli Yoder, the location’s election supervisor, said that Brown told him he was there as an election observer, but Yoder said that only political parties are allowed to send observers and that candidates on the ballot are not permitted to act as observers.

While district attorneys in some jurisdictions — including Philadelphia and Orange County, CA — are providing monitoring assistance this election, those DAs are not currently up for re-election.

“He had no business being in there as a watcher or anything unless he was voting, especially as a candidate,” said Summit County clerk and recorder Kathy Neel. “That’s the first I’ve heard of that happening,” she said, adding that her office does not conduct election monitoring.

Brown was in the voting area for about 10 minutes before he was asked to leave, said Yoder. Silverthorne police responded to a citizen complain that Brown was in the voting area, said police chief John Minor, who arrived at the Pavillion after Brown had already left and was in the Red Buffalo Cafe next door.

Minor said he spoke with Brown, who said he understood the electioneering rules. Minor noted that Brown was not distributing campaign literature or wearing any campaign buttons or pins.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.

Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.