is a misguided attempt to prevent a rare form of voter fraud by requiring voters to either write the last four digits of their Social Security number or the last four digits of their driver’s license number on their ballot.
We want to be clear — voter fraud is extremely rare in Colorado. We always want our election system to improve, but putting a highly specific requirement like this in the Colorado Constitution simply does not make sense.
Mail ballots could completely change in 10 years, as could the verification process, making including the last four digits of a Social Security number or ID number obsolete and yet it would be in the Constitution, unchangeable without a vote of 55% of Coloradans. There are a few thousand voters in Colorado who have neither number on file with their voter registration and this could disenfranchise them if they fail to cure their ballot after election day.
Also, we worry that the rejection rate of ballots could increase if people use one number, but that is not the ID number on file — for example, some voters only have a Social Security number on file, so if they use a driver’s license number, their ballot may get rejected unless they take an extra step after election day to cure it.
Colorado’s ballots are already secure without this extra layer of security.
Colorado uses a three-step safeguard now to ensure that a ballot is cast by the voter it was sent to.
First, voters can track their ballots in the mail so they can report quickly if a ballot is never delivered.
Second, voters receive a notification when their ballot has been received by a county clerk, giving them time to alert the county to a ballot that has been cast fraudulently in their name.
Third, every clerk’s office cross-checks the signature on the ballot with saved signatures on file to verify it matches.
Many of the fraudulent ballots that were cast in this state were caught by these measures and would not have been caught by requiring a four-digit Social Security number or a driver’s license number. That is because voter fraud has most often been perpetrated by a close family member of the person whose ballot is being cast illegally — spouses, parents and children generally know or have access to their family member’s Social Security numbers. In that regard, a forged signature is actually easier to catch than four simple digits that family members easily know.
We can think of only one case in recent years where these checks failed, and three fraudulent ballots were counted before the scheme was caught. So how do we prevent these isolated cases of successful fraud from harming the trust in our election system?
We agree with the proponents of this measure that a second verification process in addition to the signature verification would make the ballots even more secure. We like the idea of using the same ballot tracking software that alerts people to look for their ballots to also allow voters to confirm and verify they are the ones voting — a two-factor authentication for our voter system.
But such a system will take time and effort to work out, and because signature verification is working so well, there is no rush to implement a big change. Colorado lawmakers should research the system, pass legislation to pilot the system and then implement it. It will take money and expertise, far more than just bringing the idea to the ballot to see how it works after voters approve it.
We urge clerks to work with lawmakers to find a solution that is flexible, secure and not overly onerous on voters.
Our elections are safe, and improvements can move slowly and with intention. Vote no on Amendment 84.
To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.
