Denver Clerk and Recorder Debra Johnson on Wednesday sued Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, challenging a rule from his office to block ballots from being mailed to inactive voters in city and school board elections. “The election rules adopted in August by the Colorado secretary of state prohibiting the mailing of ballots to inactive-failed-to-vote voters in nonpartisan and coordinated elections infringes on Denver’s status as a home rule city and county,” Johnson said in a statement. “We believe that the secretary of state is overstepping his authority by trying to control who gets ballots in local municipal elections.
“The Colorado Constitution and Denver City Charter make it clear municipal elections in the City and County of Denver are regulated at the local level and that the clerk and recorder has exclusive authority to conduct municipal elections.” Gessler is already embroiled in a lawsuit with Johnson over her trying to send ballots to inactive voters — those who have missed voting during one cycle — in the November 2011 election, where a statewide ballot question was before voters.
Full Article: Denver clerk sues Gessler over mailing ballots to inactive voters – The Denver Post.