Congressional candidate Peggy Lamm will not face criminal prosecution for registering to vote in Jefferson County while still residing in Boulder County, the Jefferson County district attorney announced Thursday.
“Given the totality of the circumstances in this case, we must respectfully decline to proceed against Margaret Lamm for improper registration … because, in our legal judgment, there is no reasonable likelihood that she would be convicted,” District Attorney Scott Storey wrote.
Lamm moved into the 7th Congressional District upon renting an apartment in Arvada and changed her voter registration in May 2005, according to the letter. However, she re-registered her vehicle in Boulder County in September.
Jefferson County investigators found indications that, in that time, Lamm spent little time in Arvada and most of her time in Boulder County, according to the letter. But prosecutors felt that she was not criminally liable because there was no intent to commit voter or tax fraud.
“When pressed, Ms. Lamm stated that she ‘couldn’t swear’ that she had stayed ‘more than one or two nights a month’ in the Arvada apartment,” Storey’s letter said.
Lamm spokesman Jim Merlino said Lamm lives in Jefferson County and said she spends most of her time in the district.
“We continue to focus on issues that matter to the voters like rising gas prices and quality education,” he said. “This whole complaint is Karl Rove-style politics.”
Lamm will face Ed Perlmutter in the August Democratic primary.
“Seventh District voters have to question whether she can represent them,” said his spokeswoman, Danielle Radovich Piper.
Businessman Herb Rubenstein is also planning to run in the August Democratic primary.
Staff writer Arthur Kane can be reached at 303-820-1626 or akane@denverpost.com.
