Issue Position: Elections Reform Bill

Issue Position

I am very excited to see that the Elections Reform Bill has bipartisan Support. The long anticipated and much needed bill was introduced in the Colorado State Senate. The measure will make several key changes and increase voter access to the ballot. First, the bill will expand voter options, including mail ballots, while providing service and polling centers for those who need or want assistance. The so-called "inactive" voter classification has been disposed of and mail ballots will be sent to every qualified voter. Additionally, the bill will provide for voting in person at service and polling centers beginning 15 days before the election and allow registration up to and through Election Day, i.e., same-day registration. The bill will also provide improved processes for updating and correcting the voter registration rolls. Finally the bill will create a uniform voting and tabulation system and reform the canvassing and poll watching rules.

Many of the recommendations in this bill mirror those proposed by the bipartisan Colorado County Clerks' Association and its Executive Director, former Republican Secretary of State Donetta Davidson. Democratic lawmakers have worked for months with the Clerks' Association and many citizen advocacy groups to develop the bill.

Unfortunately, it is opposed by our current Secretary of State Scott Gessler and other key Republican leaders. Locally, El Paso County Clerk Wayne Williams has issued a press release and spoken out in opposition. The opponents argue that this bill will offer more opportunities for ineligible voters to access a ballot. All the evidence has shown, however, that voter fraud is a non-existent problem, but there are currently too many hurdles for voters to jump if they have moved or changed their registration status in some way. During the last election, voters were turned away from polls that they had used for decades because the precincts were changed and the voters didn't realize that meant they were to go to a different location. Many were frustrated and forced to vote provisionally or search for their new polling location.

There is a difference between having the "right" to vote and the "ability" to vote. Many who have the right to vote find casting a ballot needlessly impeded. A law that allows voters to vote at any one of a number of vote centers will increase voter participation, a net good. Moreover, many folks are by necessity living transient lives. Regardless of the economic demands on them, they should still be able to vote. Opponents of open elections are, in fact, interfering with the rights of the individual.ss

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