Colorado: Senate panel moves forward on recall bill | The Denver Post

Democrats moved forward Friday with a measure they say will boost voter turnout in recall elections, despite strong opposition from Republicans assailing it as unconstitutional. The legislation looks to harmonize language in state statute with Colorado’s constitution in regard to the recall election process. Under the constitution, a candidate has up to 15 days before Election Day to submit signatures so that the candidate’s name can appear on the recall ballot.

Colorado: Democrats unveil legislation surrounding recall elections | Colorado Statesman

Democrats this week unveiled legislation that aims to correct some of the legal conflicts revealed last summer during recall elections of two Senate Democrats that nullified mail balloting and contributed to the Democrats’ loss. During an impromptu media availability hosted by Senate Democrats on Monday, lawmakers proposed a measure that would modify a provision in state statute that allows a person to petition onto a recall election ballot 15 days before the election date. The provision was highlighted during a Denver District Court case this summer challenging the recall elections of then-Senate President John Morse of Colorado Springs and then-Sen. Angela Giron of Pueblo. Both lawmakers were subsequently ousted from office for their support of gun control after the court allowed the elections to continue. The Libertarian Party of Colorado filed the lawsuit, arguing that they had not missed a 10-day deadline to submit signatures in order to petition a successor candidate onto the ballot. The case pointed out that state law mandates that ballots be mailed no later than 18 days before the election. But the state constitution requires that successor candidates have up to 15 days before the election to submit signatures.

Colorado: Democrats propose tweaks to recall elections | 9News

With last year’s recall elections fresh in their minds, leading Democrats in the Colorado Senate laid out a case for changes in state laws governing recall elections. Democrats insisted their aim was to clear up confusion about how recalls work and encourage more voter participation, saying nothing in the bill they’re introducing would make it tougher to attempt to recall a public official in Colorado. “As to the ability to actually recall someone or whether it’s harder or easier, it’s agnostic on that,” said Senate President Morgan Carroll. “It’s neutral. It doesn’t really affect that.”

Colorado: Recall proposal sparks partisan dustup | Associated Press

Calling Colorado election law “dusty” and confusing, Democrats announced a plan Monday to update recall election regulations. Democrats called the plan nonpartisan, a straightforward effort to address conflicting, confusing language in state elections code. Republicans didn’t bite, immediately deriding the proposal as an effort to circumvent constitutional requirements for recalls. Colorado’s recall language came into focus last year, when two Democratic state senators were recalled over support for gun-control measures including expanded background checks.

Colorado: El Paso County plan would add polling places within minutes from every resident | The Gazette

By the 2014 primary and general elections, more than 90 percent of El Paso County voters will have polling places and ballot drop-off locations within 10 minutes of their homes. Clerk & Recorder Wayne Williams discussed his office’s 2014 plans with the Board of County Commissioners Thursday. A doubling of polls and drop-off sites will make sure elections in Colorado’s most populous county go off without a hitch and, more importantly, in compliance with a state law passed in May of 2013. Colorado House Bill 13-1303 outlines its polling center and drop-off requirements based on population. According to Williams, the law requires El Paso County to have 23 polls for general elections, four for primaries and 11 24-hour ballot drop-off locations.

Colorado: Tracking Voters in Real Time in Colorado | National Journal

Hoping to make voting accessible without opening the door to fraud, Colorado is turning to technology. In 2013, the state Legislature created Colorado’s own “electronic pollbook,” a new real-time voter-tracking system that allows the state to combine an all-mail election with traditional in-person voting, maximizing the opportunities for residents to cast ballots. Colorado already had a robust vote-by-mail system—about three-quarters of the state’s voters mailed their ballots in 2012—but now, every registered voter in the state, including previously “inactive” voters, will receive a mail ballot in upcoming elections. Yet unlike in Washington state or Oregon, which run all-mail elections, Coloradans can still vote in person if they choose. Instead of being tethered to a local precinct, voters can cast ballots or return their mail ballots at any “voting center” in their county, where poll workers can check them in using the real-time connection in the new e-pollbook to ensure they haven’t already voted using a mail ballot. The process is spread over a couple of weeks of early voting and Election Day itself to reduce crowding and wait times at polling places.

Colorado: Senate passes elections bill over stiff GOP opposition | The Denver Post

An elections bill that took several strange turns through the legislative process passed the state Senate Friday, helping to quell concerns of anxious fire districts and city councils worried about having enough time to prepare for spring elections. House Bill 1164 is an update of the election code for nonpartisan elections: municipal, special district and school districts. Democrats say it creates one standard for residency in Colorado elections and allows people who move the ability to vote where they live. But Republicans argued the bill invites voter fraud and is a continuation of problems created with last year’s Democratic elections measure that allowed for all mail ballots and same-day voter registration. The measure passed the Democratic-controlled Senate on a party-line vote.

Colorado: GOP wants to nix same-day voter registration | Associated Press

Colorado Republicans on Monday launched their bid to undo a new elections law that allows same-day registration, saying they’re still not convinced the change isn’t a recipe for possible voting fraud. Democrats insist the new law is sound and won’t be going anywhere. The Republican proposal includes a two-year “time out” on the new law, which added same-day registration and a requirement that ballots go by mail to all registered voters. Republicans want to undo that law, at least temporarily, while a bipartisan panel reviews the measure. Republicans say the law is riddled with problems, such as conflicting residency deadlines between state and local races. Their main gripe, though, is same-day voting registration, which makes voting more convenient for people who forget to register but could also make it more difficult to determine who’s eligible to vote in an election.

Colorado: Democrats nix GOP bills dealing with mail ballots | Associated Press

Democrats on Monday rejected proposals from Colorado Republicans that would make mail ballots optional and allow anyone to challenge votes cast by mail. The bills failed Monday on 3-2 party-line votes in a Senate committee. Last year, Democrats passed an election-law overhaul that, among other things, allowed voter registration on Election Day and required mail ballots for every registered voter. Republicans have criticized the election changes and have expressed concerns over possible fraud. They have pledged to try this year to address portions of the new election rules or try to undo them. But with Democrats controlling both legislative chambers, they will be facing long odds. That was apparent Monday with a couple of the bills they argued for, and the Republican sponsors saw the fate of their proposals coming.

Colorado: Officials: State should pay for recall | The Pueblo Chieftain

Pueblo County Clerk Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz and Republican lawmakers often don’t see eye to eye on election issues, but they do on one: The state ought to pay the cost of last year’s recall elections in Pueblo and El Paso counties. New state Sens. George Rivera, R-Pueblo, and Bernie Herpin, R-Colorado Springs, have signed onto a letter to Secretary of State Scott Gessler this week that insists the state should cover the $270,000 it cost Pueblo County and the $150,000 it cost El Paso County to conduct the special elections last year. Those recall races ousted Democratic state Sens. Angela Giron, of Pueblo, and John Morse, of Colorado Springs. Rivera and Herpin were elected to replace them.

Colorado: No charges against activist who voted in recall to point out flaws in Colorado law | The Gazette

The Attorney General’s Office will not charge Jon Caldara for voting in the September recall election of Sen. John Morse, despite what investigators deemed extremely suspect behavior. Caldara, a longtime Boulder resident and a Republican, used a new same-day registration law to register to vote in El Paso County and cast a ballot in the recall election. Caldara told the media that he was voting to prove a point: that the Democrats’ new election law was flawed and allowed voters to move from district to district and vote in close elections with little recourse. “It’s not a big surprise. I wasn’t worried about it,” Caldara said of the decision. “This law was created to legalize voter mischief. It was created so that voters could be moved around into districts where their vote was most needed at the very last moment of the campaign. All I did was to make public what happens privately.”

Colorado: Group files suit against Colorado county clerks over voter rolls | The Denver Post

A national conservative organization that aims to address voter fraud filed lawsuits Monday against two Colorado county clerks for what it says is improper maintenance of voter rolls. True the Vote alleges clerks from Gilpin and Mineral counties have voter registration rates — according to the group’s analysis — of more than 100 percent, which it says signifies a problem. As a result, the group says, the clerks haven’t complied with the Voter Registration Act of 1993 by not making “a reasonable effort to conduct voter list maintenance programs in elections for federal office.”

Colorado: Proposals underway to change how Coloradans elect candidates, vote | The Denver Post

A powerful chief executive who championed election reform in California and a politically disillusioned private eye are looking to upend the way elections are conducted in Colorado. The changes could create unfamiliar scenarios: Republicans and Democrats voting in each other’s primaries or unaffiliated voters automatically participating in the primaries without changing their registration. Or even replacing the primary with a preliminary election where the top two vote- getters among a pool of candidates advance to the general election, even if that means both candidates are from the same party. At least two people are leading discussions about changing Colorado’s elections. Kent Thiry of Cherry Hills Village is chief executive of DaVita, a Denver-based kidney dialysis company. Private investigator Ryan Ross of Denver is director of the Coalition for a New Colorado Election System. Both believe the current system is controlled by “partisan purists.”

Colorado: Voter turnout spurred by registration, mail ballots, hot issues | Denver Post

Whether it was local issues like secession from Colorado, or statewide school taxes, pot taxes or a new law that mailed a ballot to every voter, the numbers don’t lie. Turnout on Tuesday was remarkable: 319,225 more ballots cast this year compared to 2011, the last election without a presidential, gubernatorial or congressional race driving the fervor. To put it in perspective, that’s close to the whole population of Aurora joining the electorate this time around — or two Fort Collinses or three Boulders or 30 Lone Trees. You get the idea. (OK, one more 72 Ouray counties.) What drove the increase? A lot of things. Some of it could be attributed to almost 212,000 more registered voters since 2011 — from 3,350,219 two years ago to 3,562,184 on Tuesday. Colorado legislators this year also made mail-balloting the law, rather than just an option. The state has allowed voters to chose to get a ballot mailed to them for quite awhile, and in the general election last year 74 percent chose to do so. This year, that number grew to 100 percent of those, plus many more who had been deemed “inactive” for not voting in recent elections. Getting a ballot without leaving home likely pulled many of them still living in the state back into the fold.

Colorado: Evie Hudak resigns: Colorado state senator avoids recall election | The Denver Post

State Sen. Evie Hudak resigned her seat Wednesday, ending a recall effort being waged against her days before gun-rights activists were to turn in petitions to try to oust the Democrat from office. In her resignation letter, Hudak said her decision would spare Jefferson County residents from having to shell out more than $200,000 for a special election, especially after the county has cut programs for seniors and mental health. She praised the gun laws Democrats passed in the 2013 session that sparked recall efforts against her and two fellow senators, Senate President John Morse of Colorado Springs and Sen. Angela Giron of Pueblo. Several Democratic lawmakers conceded that a recall election would have served as a distraction during the 2014 session for them and for Gov. John Hickenlooper, who is up for re-election. And if voters in Hudak’s district had voted to oust her and replaced her with a Republican, the GOP would have gained control of the Senate by one seat. Democrats now have only an 18-17 majority over Republicans, thanks to the successful recalls of Morse and Giron, who were replaced by Republicans. Under Colorado law, Hudak’s successor will be a member of her own party.

Colorado: The Gessler 155: Zero prosecutions of people secretary of state says voted illegally | GJSentinel.com

Since taking over the Secretary of State’s Office in 2011, Scott Gessler has loudly and repeatedly claimed that non-citizens were illegally voting in Colorado elections. The Republican, who has long called for a new law requiring people to show proof of citizenship before voting, made national news when he went before Congress that year making a blockbuster statement that 16,270 non-citizens were registered to vote in Colorado and 5,000 of them actually had cast ballots in the 2010 state elections, when Democrat Michael Bennet narrowly defeated Republican Ken Buck for the U.S. Senate. But since making those claims, Gessler’s office said it has been able to identify only 80 non-citizens statewide who were on the voter rolls over the past nine elections, representing 0.0008 percent of the more than 10 million ballots that have been cast in those general elections, and those ballots don’t include primary races or local elections that were held during that time.

Colorado: So far, so good for mail balloting in Colorado | The Denver Post

Back in April when a new election law was making its way through the legislature, we expressed doubts about whether there’d be time by Election Day to prepare the underlying technology. So we’ve got to hand it to all involved in last week’s election: It went as smoothly as anyone could have hoped, even with the bells and whistles of same-day registration, universal mail ballots and ballots sent to inactive voters. Next year’s midterm election, which features contests for U.S. Senate and governor, will of course attract more voters and pose a bigger challenge. But nothing in this year’s experience suggests the system won’t be ready. It is now remarkably easy to vote in Colorado — even easier than in 2012, when it was already a breeze. And that’s a good thing, even if the mechanism — paper ballots and stamps — seems remarkably retro in this golden age of electronic communication.

Colorado: State Election Law Once Again Challenged in Colorado Courts | Examiner.com

The Colorado Election Law, HB13-1303 Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act of 2013, passed in haste last legislative session on a straight party-line vote (the Senate sponsors of the bill, Angela Giron and John Morse, were subsequently removed from office in Colorado’s first legislative recall elections in state history) has once again been challenged in court. The Libertarian Party of Colorado, joined by several individual plaintiffs, filed suit in Denver District Court (Saturday, 2 November 2013) seeking to ensure that voters in this year’s coordinated (nonpartisan) municipal and special-district (including school board) elections were able to vote – and only able to vote – on those races for which they were eligible under state statute and the provisions of the Colorado Constitution.

Colorado: Libertarian Party of Colorado sues for voting rights | Washington Times

The Libertarian Party of Colorado filed suit in Denver District Court Friday, seeking immediate relief from the inherent conflicts in and unlawful implementation of HB 1303, the Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act. It is also widely known as the Voter Fraud Bill for its “catch me if you can” approach to voting integrity. The suit claims that the new law disenfranchises voters because of the way it changes residency requirements. Since the requirements of the law conflict with local election codes, county clerks have implemented the law in different ways, making things even worse. The defendants in the case are Secretary of State Scott Gessler, county clerks Gilbert Ortiz (Pueblo County), Wayne Williams (El Paso), Jack Arrowsmith (Douglas), and Matt Crane (Arapahoe), representing a defendant class of all Colorado County Clerk & Recorders.

Colorado: No violation: Jefferson County ‘duplicate ballot’ was a Delta County special election ballot | The Colorado Independent

The mystery “duplicate ballot” was photographed, tweeted about and then shredded. In its internet afterlife, it was held up as evidence that recent electoral reforms centered around universal mail ballots were opening the state to fraud. In fact, the mystery ballot demonstrated that the system is working as well as it ever has done, and maybe better. It took a few days and some digging, but now it’s clear that the ballot was a Delta County special election ballot. It was mailed to Republican state House candidate Jon Keyser, an attorney at major Colorado law firm Hogan Lovells and a former Air Force intelligence officer. Keyser lives in Morrison, in Jefferson County, but he owns a Delta County parcel of land. He is eligible to vote in two elections. Keyser received two ballots in the mail because that’s how it works. They’re different ballots. He is being asked to vote in Jefferson County as a resident and on a long-term financing deal for Delta County’s Grand Mesa Water Conservancy District.

Colorado: Court issues ruling on Colorado recall vote system | 7NEWS

The Colorado Supreme Court has reaffirmed its decision in two Colorado legislative recall elections that voters do not have to first vote “yes” or “no” on the recall to have their votes for a successor validated. The Colorado high court said Monday a state constitutional requirement that voters must first vote on the recall before voting for a candidate violates rights to voting and expression under the U.S. Constitution. The court’s written ruling came in response to a question from Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Colorado: Denver judge throws out late challenge to Amendment 66 | The Denver Post

A court ruling Tuesday evening knocked down a late challenge to the petition process that put Amendment 66, the proposed school finance overhaul and $950 million tax hike, onto the November ballot. A lawsuit brought by two opponents of the measure, former state legislators Bob Hagedorn and Norma Anderson, sought to invalidate nearly 40,000 signatures because of alleged missteps by petition circulators and effectively remove the issue from consideration by Colorado voters. The lawsuit claimed some circulators didn’t follow proper procedures. Those violations, the suit concluded, should invalidate the signatures, taking the total below the threshold required to put the measure on the ballot. Denver District Court Judge R. Michael Mullins ruled that the petition process was sufficiently compliant with the law.

Colorado: Stakes grow in new Colorado gun control recall effort | Los Angeles Times

When a pair of Colorado lawmakers were recalled last month in a referendum on gun control, opponents had this to console them: At least, they said, the twin defeats did not alter the balance of power in Denver, the state capital. Now gun rights advocates are looking to change that. Organizers have received official go-ahead to start gathering signatures in a bid to oust state Sen. Evie Hudak, a Democrat from the Denver suburb of Westminister, who was the target of a failed recall petition drive earlier this year. The group, certified by Colorado’s secretary of State, has until Dec. 3 to collect just over 18,900 signatures to force a vote. The stakes: control of the state Senate, which Democrats hold by a tenuous 18-17 edge.  Hudak, who is in her second term, was one of four lawmakers originally targeted after the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed a series of sweeping gun controls in response to mass shootings last year in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn. The measures, signed into law by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, include a requirement for universal background checks and a limit on ammunition magazines like the one used in the July 2012 theater shootings in Aurora, another suburb of Denver.

Colorado: Final election results show Morse lost by 319 votes | Colorado Springs Independent

The final results are in for the recall election of Senate President John Morse — and it was a squeaker. With additional ballots counted, it turns out that Morse lost by just 319 votes. With the deadline for receiving military and overseas ballots passed, all possible remaining legal votes in the Senate District 11 Recall Election have been collected and tabulated. The El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office announces the official final result of the election as follows: The final results include an additional 76 ballots from military and overseas voters and 22 polling place provisional ballots that were counted after signatures were verified.

Colorado: Officials reviewing voter fraud allegations | Colorado Springs Gazette

About 268 voters registered to vote or changed their address through election day to vote in the Senate District 11 successful recall of Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs. The historic recall elections Tuesday in El Paso and Pueblo counties were the first under a new law that allows election day address changes and voter registration. Christy Le Lait, who ran Morse’s campaign to stay in office, said a stunt illustrating how to abuse that law that was covered widely by the media has cast a pall of doubt over those votes. “What is real, what isn’t, what’s fraud?” Le Lait asked. “I don’t even know how you start to look at that.” Morse, the sitting Senate president, was removed from office by 343 votes in the special election taken to the ballot by citizens angered by stricter gun laws who signed a recall petition. Le Lait said there are no plans to challenge the election results, which could be certified any day.

Colorado: Lawmakers Ousted in Recall Vote Over Gun Law | New York Times

Two Colorado Democrats who provided crucial support for a package of state gun laws were voted out of office on Tuesday in special elections seen as a test of whether swing-state voters would accept gun restrictions after mass shootings at a Colorado movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school. The vote, which came five months after the United States Senate defeated several gun restrictions, handed another loss to gun-control supporters and gave moderate lawmakers across the country a warning about the political risks of voting for tougher gun laws. The immediate effect of the recalls — the first of their kind in Colorado — was to remove two state senators, Angela Giron of Pueblo and John Morse of Colorado Springs, and replace them with Republicans. Although the election was confined to two small districts in Southern Colorado and does not repeal Colorado’s gun laws or change partisan control of the General Assembly, both sides spent heavily and campaigned fiercely, fighting to prevail in what analysts called a proxy battle between gun-control advocates and the National Rifle Association.

Colorado: Allegations of voter suppression efforts ignore the reality of recall elections | The Recall Elections Blog

We now have the usual flip side of the “gypsy voter fraud” allegations that we heard yesterday — an equally specious complaint of voter suppression. Part of the complaint is that the mail-in ballot law was tossed out for the recall. Nothing can be said about that — that’s the rules, and you got to play’em. The other, more important claim, is that the turnout is exceptionally low, even for a recall. However, this may not be borne out by facts. With a few, very noteworthy exceptions, recalls usually see lower turnout. Let’s look at another high profile state legislative recall. Arizona state Senate President Russell Pearce faced a recall which took place on an election day (albeit a true off year election). Election Day recalls should have higher turnout than a regular special election like in Colorado, and since Pearce was such a lightening rod, you might expect great turnout. Instead, 23,296 people voted, down from 31,023 who voted in the 2010 general election (when it was a safe seat).

Colorado: Democrats Accuse Opponents Of Voter Suppression | Huffington Post

The first recall election in Colorado’s history will determine on Tuesday the fate of two Democratic lawmakers, Senate President John Morse and state Sen. Angela Giron (Pueblo), who stand to lose their seats after voting for stricter gun laws earlier this year. But while national attention has focused on both recall fights as a referendum on gun control, anti-recall operatives say they’re battling an entirely different issue: Voting laws. Morse and Giron became the target of recall efforts after they supported a comprehensive gun control package that passed the state legislature in March. The reforms included background checks for all firearms purchases and a ban on high-capacity magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. Gun rights advocates, bolstered by the National Rifle Association, initially sought to recall four Democrats but only collected the required signatures to challenge Morse and Giron. But as the recall fight reaches an end, several Democrats working on the ground told The Huffington Post that if either Morse or Giron is defeated, it will be because their opponents were able to suppress voter turnout by making it difficult for constituents to cast their ballots. Turnout is typically low in recall elections, but one Democratic official estimated turnout of less than 15 percent across both counties.

Colorado: Gov. John Hickenlooper critical of Jon Caldara’s recall voting “stunt” | Denver Post

Gov. John Hickenlooper is the latest to weigh in with concerns about Jon Caldara’s residency switch Saturday so he could vote in the recall election of Senate President John Morse of Colorado Springs.  Caldara, a longtime Boulder resident, said he was was trying to make a point that a new election law passed by Democrats and signed into law by Hickenlooper in May undid residency requirements that had been in Colorado law for years. “We are hearing disturbing reports that some people are being encouraged to go to the polls, not to legitimately vote, but to disrupt the process,” Hickenlooper said in a statement issued today. “That would be unlawful and makes a mockery of the democratic process. We urge the county clerks in Pueblo and El Paso counties to make clear that people engaged in attempting to disrupt the elections are open to criminal prosecution. We’ve also reached out to the attorney general to help us ensure fair elections take place this week.” Morse and another Democratic senator, Angela Giron of Pueblo, face recall elections Tuesday for their support for gun legislation in the 2013 session. The Independence Institute opposed the bills, and Caldara talks about the election law on the group’s web site. The governor’s spokesman, Eric Brown, on Sunday talked about “political stunts.”

Colorado: County clerk discounts voter fraud allegations | The Gazette

As voters continued to cast ballots early in the recall election Saturday, questions swirled about voter fraud and ballot box stuffing. The fears are, so far, unfounded. Although Jon Caldara, president of the think tank Independence Institute, cast a blank ballot in the election Saturday to prove a point that ‘gypsy voting’ is very real. Caldara lives in Boulder but attested a Colorado Springs address was his permanent residence in a sworn affidavit. “It is easy to move voters around,” Caldara said Saturday morning after casting a ballot he left blank at the Garden of the Gods voting center. “The whole purpose of this was to finally show what I think and I speculate happens often, that people come and use this same-day voter registration to move voters around.”