Finally, a little reason has been injected into the heated arguments over certain contested voter registrations in Colorado.
A settlement reached late Wednesday in federal court is a middle-ground effort to give potentially thousands of voters the benefit of the doubt when trying to cast a ballot.
In the same vein, the recent decision by Denver clerk Stephanie O’Malley to allow some 1,400 voters to complete their voter registration form when they go to the polls also is reasonable. (This concerns checking that notoriously unchecked box. More on this in a moment.)
These moves support the underlying idea that election laws should be used to ensure fairness, not as a cudgel to keep people from voting.
According to the agreement between Secretary of State Mike Coffman and several advocacy groups, a group of voters whose registrations were inactivated will get extra protection against inappropriate invalidation of their ballots.
This requires a little explanation. These folks always had been able to cast provisional ballots, which go through a post-election review process to make sure they were cast by eligible voters before being counted.
The stipulation says if these ballots are in danger of being discounted, they get two additional layers of review to make sure tossing them is appropriate.
Most of these registrations, according to Coffman, were inactivated because the voters had moved, died or been convicted of a felony.
Given the fervor that is building toward Election Day, the compromise seems a prudent way to provide transparency and extra backstops against potential accusations that the election was “stolen” through improper vote invalidation.
We’re glad, also, that O’Malley has come up with a sane, simple way of including voters who did not check what has become a very important box on voter registration forms.
The application asks for a driver’s license number or state ID. If an applicant has neither, they are to check a box saying so and provide at least the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Coffman’s office, supported by state Attorney General John Suthers, said that in the latter scenario the box must be checked for the application to be complete and in compliance with law. Originally, no-check voters were expected to make a separate trip to elections offices to check the box. O’Malley’s answer means voters will simply check the box at the polls before getting a ballot.
The process meets legal requirements, according to Coffman’s office, and could be replicated in other counties.
It’s heartening to see public officials devising common sense solutions that build much-needed confidence in the electoral system.
