If Secretary of State Mike Coffman had all his ducks in a row, we could understand his indignation over reports suggesting thousands of registered voters had been improperly purged from rolls.
And we might be more sympathetic about his pique over the governor going public with concerns about potential voter disenfranchisement.
But as it turns out, Colorado actually has a few voter registration problems to deal with. We’d like to see Coffman spend more time addressing those issues and reassuring the public and less time sniping at those who have raised questions.
Let’s back up a moment and recap. One of the things that set Coffman off was a New York Times story published Thursday contending that six swing states, including Colorado, may have illegally removed tens of thousands of voters from rolls or blocked them from registering.
The newspaper asserted that in Colorado, far more people had been removed from rolls than the number of deaths and relocations noted in other public records.
At a news conference Thursday, Coffman said The Times’ numbers were “pretty out to lunch.” He said he would have given the newspaper the right numbers if only the reporter had contacted his office.
However, the reporter did call Coffman’s office, but somehow the message didn’t get to Coffman. If your office shares in the blame, it’s hard to justify badmouthing others.
Coffman went on to say that in reviewing the 14,049 voters whose registrations were cancelled since mid-July, his office found 2,454 may have been improperly cancelled.
Now, let’s be clear about exactly what is wrong here. Coffman said those 2,454 represent duplicate registrations that ought to be removed so a voter has only one registration.
That’s what we would expect him to do. The potential problem is whether the actions constitute a systematic cancellation within 90 days of an election, which Coffman said would be a violation of federal law.
He is asking Attorney General John Suthers to look into the matter, which is the appropriate way to go.
Now, for the other problem. It came to light Thursday that some 4,000 voters were given an erroneously early deadline for supplying information for their incomplete voter registration applications.
Gov. Bill Ritter released a letter Thursday urging Coffman to make arrangements for each voter to be contacted by phone so they wouldn’t potentially be disenfranchised.
Coffman’s office is sending letters to those affected. But in published comments in the Rocky Mountain News, Coffman said Ritter was “grandstanding” and sniped at him for not having “the courtesy” to call Coffman first.
In truth, this political posturing is just distraction. In recent memory, there hasn’t been an election so charged as this one. Emotions are running high. Voter turnout will be huge. Those entrusted with ensuring a fair vote have the greatest burden to lead with equanimity.
