Colorado Senator Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, told the Colorado Independent Tuesday that a bill requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote would protect the integrity of one of Colorado’s most sacred systems. Others disagreed.
A report authored by election watchdog organizations Common Cause and Demos points to a series of unaddressed problems likely to suppress the vote in Colorado this November. The issues pointed out in the report are alarming in part for…
A federal judge took a swipe at an “obdurate” Secretary of State Mike Coffman this afternoon by ordering Colorado’s top election official to stop violating federal law by purging voters.
The Advancement Project, a voter protection organization, filed suit against Coffman late last week for canceling as many 30,000 voters within 90 days of the federal election, a breach of the National Voter Registration Act. Coffman’s office settled with the Advancement Project late Wednesday evening, agreeing to let purged individuals vote by provisional ballot. But he has purged an additional 146 voters since then.
Thousands of Coloradans have been denied the right to vote because of a policy that may violate federal law.
Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman has authorized county clerks to purge newly registered voters under the so-called 20-day rule. Here, county clerks must send non-forwardable letters to newly registered voters. If the mail bounces back to the clerks, then they must remove the voter applicants’ names from the rolls.
For weeks, the election season mantra in Colorado has been “vote by mail.” But that advice may cause some problems down the line, when new voters with incomplete registrations don’t receive their ballots.
Governor Bill Ritter and several county clerks have consistently urged people to vote by mail this year, a practice thought to alleviate long lines at the polling places on Election Day. As of last week, more than 1.3 million voters in the state had requested mail-in ballots.
Colorado’s confusing voter registration form has prompted county clerks to reject at least 4,800 new voter applications. And while election officials say there’s still time for the applicants to get onto voter rolls, watchdog groups warn of unintended disenfranchisement.
First there was Florida. Then there was Ohio. Will Colorado be next?
The state’s got a brand new voter database system, the longest ballot in the nation, and hundreds of thousands of new voter registrations to contend with, all of which raise the specter of chaos at the polls come November. And while elections officials maintain that Colorado can pull off its elections without a hitch, several voter watchdog groups say otherwise.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
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