Stealing Democracy-- Colorado

Scott Gessler, passionate enemy of democracy

Earlier today we took a look at the Republican Party's attempt at systematic campaign of voter disenfranchisement. It's a campaign that is especially targeting minorities, poor people, the elderly-- though not the rich, white elderly-- and students, groups identified as probable Democratic voters. But Colorado has a far weirder situation. The right-wing Secretary of State, Scott Gessler, has taken it on himself to cut out active-duty military personnel and keep them from voting! It's beyond belief... but it's true. This was from a letter VoteVets.org sent to their members in Colorado this week:

One of the most important rights we have as Americans is the right to go to the polls and cast our ballots in favor of the people we want to represent us in our democracy. For over two hundred years, brave American men and women have raised their right hand and placed themselves in harms way to defend this freedom. But in Colorado, that very right is being attacked, specifically for American troops.

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler has ordered election officials not to send ballots to American troops serving overseas, in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. We are Colorado residents. We are also Veterans. We volunteered to serve our country and wore the American flag on our right shoulder in harms way. As Colorado Veterans, the idea that Scott Gessler would deliberately prevent our service members from exercising the very freedoms they fight for is offensive, un-American, and wrong.

But Scott Gessler's order is not just unpatriotic; it's also illegal. Gessler is in direct violation of the federal Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act, which requires clerks to mail ballots to all eligible voters in the military.

A week from Saturday, the newest Blue America candidate, Colorado state Rep. Joe Miklosi will be joining us at Crooks and Liars for a wide-ranging discussion of issues. But I asked him this morning how he felt about Gessler's actions. He wasn't amused. "I'm very disappointed by the Secretary of State's lawsuit," he told me. "I have been a champion for efforts to expand voter participation. Last year, I passed a bill in Colorado to allow online voter registration. Colorado's vote by mail program is among the most successful in the nation. The Secretary of State's lawsuit is a tragic step backwards.

"It is shameful to think that our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan might be excluded from our democracy. Those who fight for our freedom, must be afforded every opportunity to participate in our democracy."
The Boulder Daily Camera skewered Gessler yesterday... in a big way. The editorial board doesn't seem to appreciate his apparent hatred of democracy-- or his hypocrisy.

When Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler was running for office, he emphasized his deep commitment to voting access, especially for Colorado members of the military who would vote from afar.

But according to the Pueblo clerk, many of Colorado's military members are among those swept up in the battle between the Denver clerk and Gessler. If those troops didn't return their ballots in the last general election they, and tens of thousands of registered Colorado voters who didn't vote one time, they are considered inactive and will not get ballots to vote in a mail-only election.

The showdown between the Denver clerk, intent on sending out ballots, and Gessler heads to court Friday. The Denver clerk's office said data shows people of color, Democrats and unaffiliated voters will be the voters most impacted by Gessler's interpretation of the law.

Gessler has been an extremely partisan secretary. Right out of the gate, he said he wanted to work a second job, moonlighting for a law firm that is very active representing conservative candidates and political interest groups. Months later, after his office levied a fine to the Larimer Republicans for campaign violations, he reduced that $48,700 original fine to $15,708. He then became the guest star of their own fundraiser to pay off the fine.

When asked about the propriety of that-- would he attend a similar fundraiser by a county's Democratic party-- he replied to a Denver Post reporter: "It would have to be an organization I'm philosophically aligned with."

Well nifty. We have a man driven by his political alignment to ethically questionable lengths in charge of all of Colorado's voters. Boulder County's Clerk and Recorder Hillary Hall chose not to fight alongside Denver. There are about 24,600 registered voters in the inactive/failed to vote category in Boulder County. Only about 1,000 of those appeared to have moved away, according to her office's postal records research.

If you live in the county and didn't vote in the 2010 general election and have not reactivated your voting status, you will be getting a post card-- instead of a ballot-- which will tell you how to get a ballot.

Lawmakers have thus far only offered temporary fixes for this. The whole mess cries out for a real legislative fix-- Hall suggests allowing county clerks to review postal records and send ballots to voters who still live in the county. Another suggestion would be to define "inactive" as someone who hasn't voted for a few years, not just one election. One election should not be enough to disenfranchise the voters, which is all too easy to do with current law and an extremely partisan Secretary of State.

Rachel Maddow's on the case. So is Colorado Common Cause. Jenny Flanagan, their executive director, reminded Gessler that “The right to vote is a fundamental right of every citizen... Denver is doing the right thing and Scott Gessler should not be able to stop Clerk Debra Johnson from sending ballots to legally registered voters." He's trying to disenfranchise 55,000 legally registered voters, almost 20% of Denver's electorate. Maybe he's hoping for a slot on Rick Perry's ticket?