Tag: Brennan Center for Justice

DENVER-- Colorado Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette and representatives of the state's top civil rights organizations this weekend railed against efforts by Republican lawmakers and officials around the country to recast voter rules. Flooded with pale mountain sun on the west steps of the capitol, the speakers took turns detailing ways new registration and voting requirements and restrictions will make it more difficult for millions of Americans to cast ballots in presidential election year 2012.

Voting rights advocates entered into a shaky truce late Wednesday with Secretary of State Mike Coffman's office over his allegedly illegal purge of 30,000 voters in Colorado. The Advancement Project, a national voter protection group, filed suit against Coffman late last week to force the secretary to reinstate the voters and halt any new purges. Coffman's removals included people who moved, inactive citizens, and newly registered individuals whose voter cards bounced back to county clerks. The Advancement Project claimed that Coffman's removals violated the National Voter Registration Act because they occurred within 90 days of a federal election. Coffman denied any wrongdoing.

As if Colorado voters didn’t have enough to worry about, an alert has been issued over a high incidence of “vote-flipping” occurring on some IVotronic machines, in which voters touch the screen for their presidential candidate, only to watch the machine switches their vote to some other guy.

It's not just you. Colorado is looking a bit iffy these days in terms of election preparedness. And with less than three weeks to go until November 4th, things just keep getting stickier. But wading through the constantly breaking election muck can be a less than savory experience. So please, put away your wellies and let the Colorado Independent guide you. Each Friday until Election Day, we'll publish a roundup of the week's big news related to election bungles around the state. If you've got news or opinions to share, please add them in the comments section below. After all, we're not as scientific as, say, Colorado's new electronic voting machines. Read on for the roundup: