Former Denver elections worker’s lawsuit says she was fired for speaking out about threats

DENVER — A former Denver elections worker who says she was fired for speaking out about her safety concerns on comedian Jon Stewart’s show filed a federal lawsuit Monday, alleging election officials wanted to silence her and violated her First Amendment rights.

Virginia Chau, a lawyer who worked as a polling center supervisor during elections, spoke in 2022 about threats made against election workers and the lack of training for them during a panel discussion on the short-lived streaming show “The Problem with Jon Stewart.”

Nationally, election officials have increased security in the lead-up to Election Day both to protect their workers and to protect voting procedures and ballots. Election offices and workers have been the target of harassment and threats since the 2020 presidential election, mainly by people supporting former President Donald Trump’s lies that the election was stolen from him because of fraud.

According to Chau’s lawsuit, the Denver elections division director R. Todd Davidson told her she was being removed as a supervisor because of her comments on the show and said she could be a hotline representative instead because no one from the public would recognize her in that job. The move would have been a demotion, the lawsuit said, and Chau refused to accept the new position.

The lawsuit alleges that Denver clerk and recorder Paul Lopez did not respond to Chau’s request to reconsider her termination.

“Instead of heeding Ms. Chau’s call for more resources and training for election officials facing threats to their personal safety, Defendants decided instead to retaliate against one of their best, and most passionate, election workers,” the lawsuit says.

The suit was filed against the city, its elections director and clerk and recorder. It asks for Chau to be reinstated and for unspecified damages.

A spokesperson for Lopez’s office, Mikayla Ortega, and a representative of the city attorney’s office, Melissa Sisneros, said their offices do not comment on pending litigation.