While Secretary of State Scott Gessler continues to press for legislation he says is needed to solve a problem of illegal voters in Colorado, the state’s county clerks officially have asked him to show them the problem. Until that happens, they are not sure it exists.
“We don’t know what we don’t know,” said Scott Doyle, Larimer County clerk and president of the Colorado County Clerks Association.
Doyle sent a registered letter to Gessler on Friday on behalf of the association asking Gessler to provide the clerks with details about his investigation into noncitizen voters and to share information about his solutions.
Doyle said county clerks across the state are not aware of a problem with noncitizens voting illegally. He said Gessler, who took office in January, did not communicate with them before he announced in the state and before a U.S. congressional panel that Colorado has a problem with illegal voters and legislation is needed to fix it.
Gessler said the clerks have not offered him any suggestions on how to deal with illegal voters. He said he would welcome any help from the clerks.
“It’s not too late. If they have good ideas, I’d like for them to bring them to the table,” Gessler said.
Gessler’s solution to the disputed problem lies in House Bill 1252, a bill that has passed the House and is awaiting a committee hearing in the Senate. The bill would give the secretary of state authority to send letters to anyone on the voter rolls he suspects of being a noncitizen. The letter would give them 90 days to provide proof of citizenship. If they don’t provide proof, the secretary would have the authority to suspend their voting privileges.
The clerks want to know if any of those individuals are in their counties so they can check their voting and citizenship status and remove them from their rolls if they are improperly registered to vote. Most county clerks in Colorado turn over suspected illegal voting to their local district attorneys for investigation.
Gessler maintains that he does not have statutory authority to give those names of suspected illegal voters to the clerks.
