Former Denver elections worker Virginia Chau, settled a lawsuit alleging her free-speech was violated after speaking out on television.
According to The Colorado Sun, Chau is a lawyer and part-time election polling center supervisor, who spoke during a panel discussion on the show “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” back in 2022. On the show, she spoke about election workers facing threats, and general lack of training. Following her appearance on the show, Chau was removed as a supervisor and demoted to voting hotline representative.
Chau alleged that this demotion was a direct result of her Jon Stewart appearance, as a voting hotline representative would be a faceless job, and she wouldn’t be recognized for her comments on television. Chau earned around $10,000 per years as a polling center supervisor during elections, and claimed that the loss of her job wasn’t just financially devastating, but morally. Chau’s attorney, David Lane claimed that “as an immigrant, she felt privileged to live in a democracy.”
The offices responsible for running elections—city attorney’s office and the clerk and recorders office—were cited as stating, “The Denver Clerk & Recorder is committed to maintaining the public’s trust and confidence, and this situation underscores our commitment to ensuring our employees are trained on our policies and procedures while upholding the safety, security, and integrity of elections.”
Chau and her lawyer on the other hand, argued that she is protected under the First Amendment to speak about public issues as a citizen of the United States. The city of Denver argued that she was not terminated or demoted, but reassigned to a different role.
Despite this, they were able to reach an agreement, with Denver paying Chau $65,000 dollars in settlement.
It’s nice to see in these trying times, where freedom of speech seemingly is being attacked—especially in the LGBTQ+ community—that some members of the judicial system believe and uphold the Constitution. This is one of several free-speech wins we’ve seen recently, with just a few months ago Texas A&M University attempted to ban drag performances, but a federal judge ruled that it violated the First Amendment.
