In the last two years, Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler has made voter fraud prevention a top priority. His efforts have included working to stop county clerks from sending absentee ballots to inactive voters, lobbying for a controversial voter ID law and leading an unprecedented effort to determine whether non-citizens are voting in the state.
In Colorado, organizing, infrastructure and fundraising within the Democratic Party and progressive organizations are the stuff of legend. The story of how liberal mega-millionaires and single-minded cooperation on the left turned this formerly solid red state to purple and blue have been told and retold for years. The story of coordination among conservatives groups, however, and the way millions of dollars each election cycle slosh to candidates and causes on the right has received relatively scant attention.
The challenges mounting on Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s desk go beyond whether to mail ballots to residents who haven’t voted in a while. He has another predicament: bar codes.
“I really have no idea what he is talking about,” Republican Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Sheila Reiner told the Colorado Independent.
DENVER– Republicans and Democrats skirmished Wednesday over voter ID requirements, taking up a battle waging in capitols around the country and rehashing arguments that have been set against each other here every year for nearly a decade. The bill, HB 1111, passed in a party line vote in the Republican-controlled House State Affairs committee but is sure to be killed later on a party-line vote in a Democrat-controlled Senate committee.
Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler told the Arapahoe County Republican Men’s Club recently that his office has removed more than 400 noncitizen residents of Colorado from the voter rolls, according to the Colorado Statesman.
A right-wing group has announced it will “pressure states and localities” through lawsuits, if necessary, “to clean up voter registration rolls pursuant to Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).” The group claims that several states, including Colorado, have voters on their registration rolls that are ineligible to vote.
Today, the Colorado Secretary of State’s office announced that the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol did not collect enough valid signatures to be placed on the ballot in November. Only about another 2500 signatures are needed, however, and organizers have 15 days in which to collect the remaining signatures.
The Colorado Legislature acted quickly and in bipartisan fashion today to require biweekly campaign finance disclosures in advance of this year’s primary elections in June.
Colorado lawmakers who last year introduced legislation to address claims that perhaps thousands of undocumented residents had voted in the state will not re-introduce the legislation this year. Secretary of State Scott Gessler reportedly waved off the lawmakers, saying he felt he could address the issue outside the halls of the capitol with means available to him through his office.
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