It appears the national
media decided to ignore yet another major voting scandal in a potential swing
state. In fact, the motives of Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler are
being called into question for simply doing his job by trying to stop people
from voting illegally. It is despicable that in some places public officials
who try to stop voter fraud and have open and honest elections are seen as
villains.
The names of 155
suspected non-Colorado citizens who have cast ballots in Colorado elections are
in the process of being sent to prosecutors, Secretary of State Scott Gessler
said.
The voters are among 4,201
people who have received letters from Gessler, the state's elections chief,
asking them to clarify their status since last summer in the lead-up to the
2012 contests. The 155 have voted in one or more past elections, and did not
reply to the letters, Gessler's office said.
Gessler said he had
"no choice but to refer these cases to law enforcement for investigation
and prosecution."
Letters were sent to
people who once showed proof of non-citizenship, such as a green card, when
getting a driver's license and then later appeared on voter rolls. Gessler is
also using a federal immigration database known as the Systematic Alien
Verification for Entitlements. The database tracks who is a legal resident
eligible to receive government benefits but is a good tool and can be used for
determing the eligibility of voters.
Rich Coolidge, a Gessler
spokesman, said:
District attorneys
have access to another database that elections officials don't, and that it
could help verify the citizenship status of individuals. Coolidge said the
names of the voters are "officially part of an investigation and not
subject" to Colorado open records law.
"We can no
longer turn a blind eye to this vulnerability in our election system,"
Gessler said.
It is admirable that
Secretary of State Gessler is trying to get to the bottom of the situation with
these illegal voters despite critics attacking him for doing his job. The
people of Colorado deserve fair elections and those who choose to vote shouldn’t
have the power of their votes watered down by the ineligible.
