After the Denver Clerk and Recorder wrote a letter to the Colorado Democratic Party threatening to sue if the group if it didn’t change the venue for its Election Night watch party, the organization did late on Tuesday.

“We have worked out arrangements to ensure that every voter has an opportunity to vote at Reelworks/Tracks while Colorado Democrats gather at another exciting location with friends, colleagues, and fellow Coloradans. We’re looking forward to a smooth election night,” Shad Murib, chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, and Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul Lopez said in a joint statement.

In a letter written Oct. 25, Lopez claimed that the space the party had chosen to hold its election night watch party at ReelWorks Denver at 1399 35th St. was illegal because it sits too close to a polling place in the same building.

The letter indicates the two parties met over the matter, but the Democratic Party had intended to move forward with an election party there anyway.

Lopez wrote that holding the election night watch party constitutes electioneering and that if the Democratic Party didn’t find an alternate location for its watch party, his office would need to explore all available remedies to comply with election law “up to and including litigation.”

“While we would live to be an accommodating partner, when it comes to protecting the integrity of elections, the safety of voters and poll workers, and the nonpartisan reputation of our office, we simply cannot negotiate what election law dictates,” Lopez wrote.

The letter is addressed to Murib and Karin Asensio, the state party’s executive director.

Based on the letter sent on Oct. 5 obtained by The Denver Gazette, Lopez and the Denver City Attorney met with the Colorado Democratic Party to “express strong opposition” to their plan to hold their Election Night Watch Party at Reelworks, which is close to Tracks, a Denver nightclub that sits at 3500 Walnut Street.

The city of Denver leased space at 1399 35th Street — the address of the door “nearest where your party attendees would enter” — as a voting center location. 

Lopez explained that holding the party constitutes electioneering “in any public matter within one hundred feet of any building in which a polling location is located.” He wrote that he understood that the Democrats did not feel that what they would be doing is illegal, but noted there would be expected “personnel, signage and other political activities” and it was not worth the risk and it could be seen as electioneering within 100 feet of a polling center. 

“The law states that the location must be free of electioneering all of Election Day, which we believe to mean midnight,” Lopez said in the letter.

He added that his office’s decision was supported by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. 

Lopez is a Democrat.

The party has a history of election night parties at Tracks, an LGBTQ+ nightclub. Denver City Councilman Darrell Watson had his watch party there when he won the seat in June 2023.

When asked for comment, Murib told The Denver Gazette, “Pretty boring, so unsure why this is a story.”

City Editor Dennis Huspeni contributed to this story.