March 08, 2011 07:59 PM UTC

If At First You Don't Succeed, Brown Vote Suppression Edition

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• by: Colorado Pols

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler is holding a news conference today with Rep. Chris Holbert to discuss yet another voter citizenship verification bill, House Bill 1252. This bill, peddled by Gessler as a “compromise approach” following the death yesterday of House Bill 1003, would give the Secretary of State authority to request proof of citizenship from any voter he “believes is not a citizen of the United States.” Advisory follows, please note for the record that it does not contain the word “purge” anywhere in it. So everything is obviously fine, Mr. and Mrs. Martinez! And if it’s not, every Secretary of State makes a few “mistakes.” C’est la vie.

As we said yesterday about HB-1003, there has never been a documented instance of voter fraud in the state of Colorado, so the same questions about the need–and true motivations–for this legislation still apply. We’ve warned repeatedly that the Republican fixation with anti-immigrant witch hunts is a huge political mistake, and a recipe for alienating the fastest-growing bloc of voters in the United States. Republican chairman Dick Wadhams is only a few weeks from being out of office, and here’s what he said in Pueblo last Friday (Chieftain):

Looking at the upcoming election year, Wadhams said Colorado Republicans must hold their support among unaffiliated voters, who make up a third of the electorate.

“The other group that will be critical to Republican success is the growing number of Hispanic voters,” he said. “Karl Rove said it best that our party will die unless we get the Hispanic vote.” [Pols emphasis]

Folks, Wadhams’ likely successor, Sen. Ted Harvey, is the Senate sponsor of House Bill 1252.

Sorry, Dick, but they’re not getting the message.

Sec. Gessler to Discuss Legislation to Strengthen Integrity of Voter Rolls

WHO: Secretary of State Scott Gessler will join state Representative Chris Holbert (R-Parker) to discuss legislation (HB1252) aimed at allowing verification of citizenship on the voter rolls.

WHEN: Tuesday, March 8, 2011

1:15pm

WHERE: The Capitol

Press Room

Room 326

WHY: Following legislation requiring proof of citizenship was defeated in the state Senate, Gessler and Rep. Holbert will unveil a compromise approach that helps improve the integrity of the voter rolls without burdening legitimate voters.

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