Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration agreed to restore some funding for the Office of the Clerk and Recorder , but called malarkey on Clerk Paul López’s claim that election integrity was in danger for the 2026 midterms.

After Johnston proposed cutting his budget by $210,000, López last month blasted the mayor, saying he would have to close eight ballot drop boxes and a polling center for the 2026 election as a result.

But in his letter to the City Council on Monday , Johnston wrote that “little evidence” had been presented to support the argument that the clerk’s funding request was necessary or that services would need to be “meaningfully reduced” under the proposed budget.

“Providing millions in new funding to the clerk when every other department is making cuts would res

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