The jaw-dropping view from Jenny Flanagan of Colorado Common Cause is that "There's no evidence that even if people are improperly registered to vote, they are actually voting."
That line comes from a report in the Durango Herald about Secretary of State Scott Gessler's push to assure that only citizens are registered to vote in Colorado.
In other words, to uphold the law.
Following Gessler's press conference Tuesday in Denver I asked him to describe the problem and what he'd like to do about it.
Well, there's two things. One is to be able to reach out to other databases to do this analysis. And then when we find that there's someone who's a non-citizen... and later registered to vote, or earlier registered to vote, then we can send them a letter saying, "You have to provide us proof of citizenship." And then if they send us proof of citizenship, all is fine, they're fine, they can register to vote. If they don't send us that, after 90 days, we'll put their registration in an incomplete status and they won't be able to vote until they show us that proof of citizenship.
State Rep. Chris Holbert, R-Parker, is
And if not (specifically on 106 cases of non-citizens believed to have been improperly registered to vote in Colorado)...
If the legislation doesn't pass, I'll either have to talk to the Attorney General and see if I can have authority on my own to do this, without legislation. Or, we wind up referring them for prosecution, because that's the only way to enforce the law.
Gessler's hard line has stirred up the county clerk and recorder in Mesa County, Sheila Reiner.
"We take this allegation very seriously, Mesa County will follow up and attempt to obtain the data Secretary Gessler is basing his findings on," Reiner said in a statement, reported NBC 11 News. "I immediately requested a list of said voters. I have been initially denied my request by the Secretary of State's office."