Re:Vision opens a voting center in Westwood to lift ballot returns

Residents of Westwood can cast a ballot at the Re:Vision facility in Southwest Denver, where the food insecurity nonprofit has turned its building into a voting center. Staff also explain voter registration in English and Spanish.

Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul López says turnout differs sharply across the city. In the 2024 general election, ballot return rates in Wash Park, Belcaro and Cherry Creek were around 85%. In Westwood, they were about 54%.

López says low participation shows up in Globeville, Elyria and Swansea, and across the West Side. "You're looking at everywhere south of 17th, the whole entire West Side, all the way down to probably about even Dartmouth before you see any precincts that turn out above 50% turnout," he said. He describes those areas as less affluent, with more people of color, and historically underrepresented.

Re:Vision executive director Mariana del Hierro says the organization wanted to support the community by working on those numbers. "For our families who participate in our programming, they see this as a home base," she said. "They are used to coming here, so having it transformed into a voting center is just an extension of all the work that we do." She said people who took part in outreach, a 2024 ballot party or the mobile voting unit have returned in 2026.

López says ballots affect city services, grocery stores, street trees and parks. "Access to city services, access to grocery stores, having street trees on your, you know, in your neighborhood, access to parks has everything to do with your participation," he said. He also said he takes pride in having a vote center and drop boxes nearby in the neighborhood where he was born and raised.

The Westwood voting center is operating now. Re:Vision runs its registration help in both English and Spanish at the Southwest Denver site.