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.”
Try as they might to characterize their efforts as a benign set of tweaks to make recalls run more efficiently, the Senate plan quickly drew fire from leading Republicans.
Secretary of State Scott Gessler (the state’s chief elections officer) is vocally opposed to the bill. His office tells 9NEWS it is concerned it may lose if it has to defend the proposed law in court. Gessler was given the chance to provide input while the bill was being drafted.
Last year’s successful recalls of Sens. John Morse and Angela Giron were conducted entirely in-person, due to conflicting legal language governing how late in the process candidates hoping to replace them could petition to gain ballot access.
Full Article: Dems propose tweaks to recall elections.