Denver Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz on Tuesday got a rebuff from colleagues over her effort to prohibit campaign workers and political operatives from gathering absentee ballots in municipal elections.
The lone Republican on the City Council says the practice is widespread and makes elections vulnerable to fraud.
But other council members, mainly Councilman Chris Nevitt, pushed back on her proposal during a committee meeting Tuesday.
Nevitt said he didn’t see the issue as generating a lot of concern and said he feared that doing what Faatz wants to do could end up making it harder for people to vote.
In the end, the council agreed to keep discussing Faatz’s proposal for overhauling municipal election laws and to meet again in two weeks. The ballot-gathering provision is just one part of her proposed legislation, most of which is not controversial. But that provision is generating skepticism.
State law limits the number of absentee ballots that can be collected and turned in by an individual to five per household in a mail-ballot election and five citywide for a regular election.
Municipal election laws, which control city elections, are silent on the issue, and Faatz wants to make the local standard five per household.
Alton Dillard, spokesman for Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O’Malley, said local elections officials advise campaigns and operatives to adhere to state law. He said the office hasn’t seen the subject as being a big issue.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
