Tag: voter suppression

Dear Non-voters, I'm writing to you because you are caring, conscientious, decent people and we desperately need your vote in the midterm elections —...

The secretary of state race typically is not one that sets partisan tempers aflame. But in this year’s polarized political environment, those sentiments are...

“I really have no idea what he is talking about,” Republican Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Sheila Reiner told the Colorado Independent.

During a speech given in Texas last night, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder criticized legal challenges launched by states against the section of the Voting Rights Act that requires approval of election laws in certain areas. Holder also affirmed the need for vigilance against laws aimed at rolling back voting rights.

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.

There is only one reason right-wing politicians around the country--including Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler--are introducing bills and otherwise taking steps to reduce the number of people who vote, filmmaker Michael Moore told a standing room only crowd at the University of Colorado at Denver today, and that is because "this is a liberal country.

DENVER-- Depending on whether or not related legal action restarts in US district court here, Colorado lawmakers plan to take up the question of which voters county clerks will be required to mail ballots to in future elections.

Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler garnered national headlines recently when he ordered county clerks in Colorado not to send ballots to registered but inactive voters-- and in Colorado that means voters who missed just one election. Detractors called the effort attempted voter suppression and pointed to a host of similar Republican efforts launched nationwide in the wake of the Tea Party-wave election last November that swept Republicans into office across the country. Denver-based Free Speech TV explored the topic this week and asked Colorado Independent reporter John Tomasic, who has reported the story in-depth, to join the discussion.

When it rains, it pours, and when a reporter finds a good story, they don't let go. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow seems to have found a good story in Colorado. This week, she ran her third segment on Secretary of State Scott Gessler's efforts to stop county clerks from mailing ballots to inactive voters.

A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice shines the spotlight on a range of new state laws that make it more difficult to vote, particularly for poor and minority voters.