Keeping Voter Rolls Safe

Elections are the foundation of our Republic, and Coloradans deserve reliable elections. Although Colorado does a very good job, our elections have vulnerabilities. This includes noncitizens on our voter rolls.

 

When non-citizens register to vote, it undermines our elections. But it also hurts non-citizens themselves, who risk their chance to ever become a citizen.

 

As Colorado’s chief election officer, I have a duty to protect our elections -- particularly when plenty of evidence shows that .non-citizens are on our voter rolls.

 

First, Colorado has removed 430 non-citizens from the voting rolls since 2008. Of this group, some non-citizens did the right thing and asked to be removed. Others didn’t know better and openly said they were non-citizens, even though only citizens can register and vote. Unfortunately, some of those non-citizens voted, some multiple times.

 

Second, my office has identified 5,000 people on our rolls who proved they were non-citizens when they applied for a driver’s license. Over 2,000 voted. North Carolina did a similar comparison and got permission from the Department of Justice to follow up with confirming letters. As a result, the state quickly confirmed at least one third were illegally registered to vote.

 

Finally, my office reviewed jail records in a handful of counties and identified numerous voters tagged by immigration authorities for additional scrutiny. This indicates a high likelihood that those voters were illegal immigrants.

 

Unfortunately, Colorado has failed to install safeguards to detect, measure, and solve this problem. By contrast, we regularly remove felons and deceased voters from the rolls. We should follow the same approach or non-citizens.

 

I attempted a legislative solution, which would have allowed my office to gain access to proven sources of non-citizen information, directly contact potentially illegal voters, and even financially assist those who could not afford verification documents.

 

Disappointingly, Democrats stonewalled these common sense efforts to protect our elections, arguing that there wasn't enough fraud to take action. But how much fraud and mistake are they willing to tolerate, especially when our state has a history of extremely close elections?

 

Bluntly put, those who turn a blind eye to problems erode election integrity and sacrifice confidence in our elections.

 

Despite the legislature’s inaction, we have continued to work towards solutions. The federal government recently agreed to share information from some of its immigration databases, after 18 months of intense efforts from Colorado and other states. Once we finalize an agreement with the federal government, we will verify our information, confirm which voters became naturalized, and give others a chance to produce documents showing an error or do the right thing and correct their mistake. We already follow similar procedures for removing convicted felons and deceased voters, and this approach is even more cautious.

 

Next we continue to seek information about potential non-citizens from other sources, such as county jails. A quick review of several county jail records found numerous potential illegal aliens on our voter rolls.

 

And most broadly, we need to do a better job reminding potential voters and voter registration drives about eligibility requirements. It has become clear that many non-citizens erroneously register to vote. Failure to inform people of eligibility requirements does a disservice to citizens and non-citizens alike.

 

Like other changes to the status quo, my efforts in this area face opposition. For that reason my office has been careful and methodical, as we seek better information before taking action.

 

Unfortunately, those with a partisan agenda continue to exploit the politics of fear for political gain. But once we cut through this partisan noise, we can put in place common sense solutions that protect our elections. And Colorado deserves the fairest, most reliable elections possible.

 

For more information and materials related to this issue, please visit http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/newsRoom/index.html.