(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(D) Julie Gonzales
(R) Janak Joshi
80%
40%
20%
(D) Jena Griswold
(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Hetal Doshi
50%
40%↓
30%
(D) Jeff Bridges
(D) Brianna Titone
(R) Kevin Grantham
50%↑
40%↓
30%
(D) Diana DeGette*
(D) Wanda James
(D) Milat Kiros
80%
20%
10%↓
(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
(R) Jeff Hurd*
(D) Alex Kelloff
(R) H. Scheppelman
60%↓
40%↓
30%↑
(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) E. Laubacher
(D) Trisha Calvarese
90%
30%↑
20%
(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Jessica Killin
55%↓
45%↑
(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Shannon Bird
(D) Manny Rutinel
45%↓
30%
30%
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
When the story first broke about Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s lawsuit to prevent Denver from mailing ballots to registered voters marked “inactive failed to vote,” the possibility of a legislative remedy was immediately raised–the situation, after all, was created by the expiration of a temporary requirement that these voters receive ballots passed by the […]
(Down the rabbit hole goes Gessler – promoted by Colorado Pols) Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler has been denying that partisanship played any role in his decision to file a lawsuit to stop Denver from mailing election ballots to inactive voters, who last voted in the 2008 general election. Gessler’s latest public denial of […]
As the Grand Junction Sentinel’s Charles Ashby reports: Secretary of State Scott Gessler is right, but for the wrong reasons, Mesa County Clerk Sheila Reiner said Friday. Gessler is right that county clerks are required to send ballots to registered voters for this year’s all-mail elections. But he’s wrong that they aren’t allowed to include […]
UPDATE: #2: Now a statement from Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert Ortiz after the jump, announcing that his office will “reluctantly” comply with Gessler’s order to not send mail ballots to overseas deployed military marked “inactive failed to vote.” “Pueblo County will honor Secretary Gessler’s order,” Ortiz said, “but this is not over. Pueblo […]
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) Under normal circumstances, I’d slam KHOW’s Caplis and Silverman for letting Colorado’s Secretary of State breeze onto their show Wednesday, assert that there’s a “pretty high incidence of fraud” among one type of Denver voters, and then depart without being forced to explain what in the world he was […]
Today the Colorado Court of Appeals issued its ruling in a case filed by Aspen 2009 Mayoral hopeful and election activist Marilyn Marks. Marks sued under Colorado’s open records act to gain access to the electronic images of ballots from the 2009 election which she lost. Although the suit was filed against Gessler in his […]
UPDATE: From MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show yesterday: —– A major story broken last night by the Denver paper, now spreading rapidly–yesterday afternoon, Congressmen Charles Gonzalez of Texas and Robert A. Brady of Pennsylvania sent a letter to U.S. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez expressing “concern about the rights of rights of voters in Colorado”–and asking […]
The Colorado Independent’s John Tomasic: Citing state election law, Gessler contends that the Denver plan to send mail ballots to all registered voters in the county is illegal because the law forbids sending ballots to “inactive voters” – that is, registered voters who failed to cast ballots in the last election. At a heated press […]
Crossposted from Colorado Pols
The latest move by Colorado’s controversial Secretary of State Scott Gessler, which, make no mistake, will have the effect of reducing the number of votes cast in future elections, is nevertheless a little more complex than meets the eye–KDVR’s Eli Stokols reports:
“The City of Denver has consistently provided all eligible voters with ease of access to the voting franchise and we continue to do so,” [Denver Clerk and Recorder Debra] Johnson said in a statement of her own.
“This is a fundamental issue of fairness and keeping voting accessible to as many eligible voters as possible.”
In Gessler’s view, it’s currently against the law for county clerks to mail ballots to inactive voters; even though Johnson points out Denver has done so in its five previous mail ballot elections.
Gessler cites a state statute that reads: “the designated election official shall mail to each active registered elector.”
In a sign of a possible Denver Post editorial to come, Editorial Page Editor Curtis Hubbard tweeted Monday night: “Sorry, but I don’t see ‘ONLY active voters’ in statute. [Pols emphasis]
Gessler, who was unsuccessful in advancing legislation earlier this year that would have required photo ID to register to vote, drawing strong criticism from progressive groups, said he’s not trying to limit turnout in the state’s most populated and heavily Democratic city…
But of course that’s what the bottom line is–Gessler is demanding that counties who adhere to an inclusive standard of providing ballots to all registered voters, like Denver, instead follow a “lowest common denominator” approach. What Gessler seems to want is adherence to the most restrictive standard possible–mandated denial of mailed ballots to registered voters who may have missed the 2010 elections unless they take affirmative steps to “activate” their registration.
Much like the recent controversy over Gessler’s demands to purge the voters rolls of “suspected” illegal voters, or his rule changes on primary election expenditures that reduce transparency, Gessler is attempting to resolve ambiguity in the law on the side of partisan political goals. Remember, these are not people accused or suspected of any problems with their voter registration–simply listed as “inactive” after having missed one election. With that in mind, Gessler has a major credibility problem trying to force a change this significant: an indelible, wholly self-inflicted partisan reputation that casts everything he does in suspicion–especially actions, like this one, that will result in fewer registered and eligible voters participating.
Lynn Bartels of the Denver paper reported that a law temporarily requiring mail ballots to be sent to all voters was in place for the last election cycle but was not reauthorized. During debate over this law back in 2008, we understand that proponents suggested Colorado’s policy regarding “inactive” voters and mail ballots could violate the federal Voting Rights Act. Politically, if the situation comes to a head we suspect that the voting public will prefer to receive mail ballots automatically–even if they happen to miss one election.
But there’s something bigger needing acknowledgement: it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Secretary of State Gessler simply doesn’t prioritize access to the ballot. Indeed, Gessler has emerged as actively hostile to the goal of facilitating convenient access to the franchise by eligible voters. If that’s not what we want for the next three years, the Colorado legislature must do what it can, as quickly as it can, to close as many loopholes and ambiguities in election law as possible before Gessler finds a way to use them against lawful Colorado voters.
If this state of affairs disgusts you, that’s even more proof: elections matter.
The latest move by Colorado’s controversial Secretary of State Scott Gessler, which, make no mistake, will have the effect of reducing the number of votes cast in future elections, is nevertheless a little more complex than meets the eye–KDVR’s Eli Stokols reports: “The City of Denver has consistently provided all eligible voters with ease of […]
Colorado’s PoS SoS Scottie Gessler is now gonna take Denver to court over voter enfanchisement. Yep, ya read that right. The DP’er says Scottie is gonna whoop up a crapstorm if Denver’s Clerk & Recorder sends ballots out to folks assumed to be inactive. Seems if ya didn’t vote in 2010 then you don’t get to […]
After Friday’s disclosure of an upcoming fundraiser for the Larimer County Republican Party featuring Secretary of State Scott Gessler in a dunk tank–coming just weeks after Gessler’s office slashed fines owed by the same Larimer County GOP after years of mismanagement and the impending prosecution of the former chairman–editorial boards in Denver and Grand Junction […]
UPDATE: Fort Collins Coloradoan now up with a good story, with this quote from political science professor John Straayer of Colorado State University: “This just doesn’t seem like the best exercise in judgment. One would think the secretary would instead go to great lengths to keep his distance so as to avoid any appearance of […]
As the Colorado Independent’s John Tomasic reports: Editorial boards at the Fort Collins Coloradoan and at the Denver Post have admonished Secretary of State Scott Gessler for setting bad precedent when he decided that the scandal-plagued Larimer County Republican Party was merely negligent and not willful in allowing Chairman Larry Carillo to bilk party funds […]
Reportedly, 9NEWS will be taping a Your Show Q&A with Secretary of State Scott Gessler tomorrow for airing this weekend–do you have anything you’d like to ask him about? Gessler can answer your questions about business identity theft prevention, requiring photo identification prior to voting, improving the election process, the campaign finance system and more. […]
Behind the website paywall, and in today’s Grand Junction Sentinel, is an article worth paying for–that said, we wish more people would see it than likely will behind a paywall. One of the fiercest critics of repeated assertions by Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler that many, perhaps thousands, of noncitizens may have voted in […]
It’s been a couple of months since we last discussed Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s controversial “awareness campaign” around the threat of tens of thousands thousands hundreds maybe a hundred? illegally registered noncitizen voters in Colorado. After the legislation Gessler pushed to deal with this “problem” was killed, it was widely reported that the normal […]
Announced in a press release this morning– Today, Colorado Common Cause and Colorado Ethics Watch filed a complaint in Denver District Court against Secretary of State Scott Gessler that claims Gessler unlawfully weakened Colorado campaign finance laws through the Secretary of State’s rulemaking process. The Secretary of State does not have authority to change state […]
We spent the better part of the morning conferring with sources about a report from our friend Ralphie, writing at his Junction Daily Blog. Check out what Secretary of State Scott Gessler has apparently proposed in response to a mistake in legislation passed this year moving up Colorado’s primary election date: When the General Assembly […]
According to a release we just received from Colorado Ethics Watch, they are objecting to the filing of an amicus brief from Secretary of State Scott Gessler, in effect on behalf of one of his former election law clients Clear the Bench. As we noted a couple of weeks ago, Gessler’s moves to assist Clear […]
Notwithstanding the bad legal advice and the steady stream of ethics red flags, as the Colorado Independent’s John Tomasic reported yesterday afternoon: Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler filed a brief with the attorney general last week supporting an appeal brought by election-politics group Clear the Bench in a campaign finance case. Gessler defended the […]
(Something about “ink by the barrel” we heard as children… – promoted by Colorado Pols) I reported Saturday that Secretary of State Scott Gessler was on the Mike Rosen Show April 8, and he had some harsh things to say about The Denver Post. Asked by Rosen about The Post’s request to review Gessler’s list […]
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s spokesperson, not Gessler himself, spoke to The Denver Post for a story Thursday reporting that Gessler doesn’t need legislative approval to make sure noncitizens aren’t voting in Colorado elections. But Gessler found time Friday to join Mike Rosen for a friendly chat on his […]
As the Pueblo Chieftain’s Patrick Malone reports, there will be no food for thought from the Joint Select Committee on Redistricting this week in map form–there’s been a bit of a holdup. A joint committee of the General Assembly charged with crafting a bipartisan compromise on congressional redistricting on Tuesday announced it has delayed the […]
In the Denver newspaper today, two stories that should put a swift end to the push by Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler to pass House Bill 1252–as we’ve discussed several times, a controversial bill that would grant his office authority to purge audit the voter rolls for anyone he “believes is not a citizen […]
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