August 03, 2013 09:51 AM UTC

Today In BS: "Gypsy Voters" To Overrun Recalls?

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• by: Colorado Pols

​A startling headline went up at the national conservative blog Daily Caller earlier this week:

Colorado recall elections risk becoming a ‘free-for-all’ under new Dem-sponsored election law

In yet another twist in the recall elections against gun control-supporting Democrats, it appears that anyone in the state of Colorado can vote on whether Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron get the boot or stay in office.

The quirk is a result of a new election law passed during the same contentious Democratic-controlled legislative session that produced the gun control bills — and in an additional bit of irony, Giron sponsored it in the state senate…

As reported by the Colorado Observer, the strict wording of the law can be interpreted to mean that anyone who has lived anywhere in Colorado for at least 22 days prior to the Sept. 10 recall elections can register to vote in Morse’s and Giron’s districts, all the way up until the day of the election, whether they live in those districts or not.

All that’s required under the new law is for prospective voters to tell election staff that they intend to move to those districts in the future. Those voters don’t actually have to  – state officials have no way of following up on such promises.

“Without further clarification from the Secretary of State’s rulemaking, I don’t believe any law would be broken,” Douglas County Clerk and Recorder Jack Arrowsmith told the Observer. [Pols emphasis]

So, you may have noticed that this latest scandalized claim from the right, citing a supposed "loophole" in the state's new election laws that allows voters from across the state to vote in these two Senate districts in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, hasn't been repeated by legitimate local or national media.

The reason is simple: it's a load of BS.

Folks, giving false information of any kind for the purposes of registering to vote is always a crime. It was a crime before the passage of this year's Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act, and it is still a crime. If a person misrepresents where they live, who they are or any other pertinent information, that is voter fraud. It is a criminal act. Every form completed by such a voter registering or changing registration contains clear language warning that they are affirming that information under penalty of perjury. And that's just for registration. In Colorado, if you cast a vote under an assumed name, address or any other falsified information, you are committing a felony. Period.

There are numerous Colorado statutes that detail these procedures and penalties. We've talked to a number of knowledgeable sources about it, and none of them can explain what Douglas County Clerk Jack Arrowsmith is thinking asserting that this kind of activity might be legal. Of course it's not. And the clerks certainly can track this. And district attorneys stand ready to prosecute all such violations of Colorado law.

Seeing as how this preposterous notion is only spreading in conservative circles, we would strongly advise somebody on that side of the aisle set the record straight before, well, something embarrassing happens.