Following a secret, months-long process and without any input from my office, voters or Republican legislators, Democrats rammed through legislation that fundamentally changes how we run our elections. Unfortunately, this election-law rewrite will lead to disaster. To begin, the bill forces Colorado into election policy that performs worse than our current system. The new bill mandates mail ballots for every voter and election-day registration. [Colorado voters overwhelmingly rejected both all-mail ballots and same day registration in 2002 ballot initiatives – by 15- and 21-point margins.] Currently, Colorado ranks third best in voter turnout nationwide — one of the few states that increased turnout in this last election. Colorado outperforms every all-mail ballot state in the country. And we outperform six of the eight election-day registration states. It appears that this bill, ostensibly designed to increase participation, is a previously-rejected solution in search of a problem. Read the entire piece in the Pueblo Chieftan for more reasons why “even if you like the policy, this bill is a rush to failure.”
Secretary of State Scott Gessler says “Colorado voters deserve better” than the election bill soon to be passed out of the Democrat-controlled legislature on straight party-line votes, which “fundamentally changes” how the state will run its elections: