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CivilRights.org Petition to Donetta Davidson



Petition URL (use in place of "click here" below):

https://secure2.convio.net/lccr/site/Advocacy? id=169&page=UserAction&AddInte





Secretary Davidson: Every Eligible Colorado Voter's Ballot Should Count

Dear ,


We now know that more than one and a half million votes were lost in the 2000 election because of clerical errors with registration. In an attempt to prevent this from ever happening again, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires that this year, eligible voters who go to the polls on Election Day not be turned away. Instead, these voters are allowed to fill out a provisional ballot. Provisional ballots are intended as a safeguard for those whose voter registration is in doubt, who may have been erroneously purged from the voting rolls, or who have problems presenting identification. The idea is to allow people to vote, and verify their eligibility later. This is a crucial reform but poor procedures and overly technical regulations threaten to make matters even worse for Colorado voters.


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HAVA requires that provisional ballots must be counted if the voter is eligible to vote. However, Colorado election officials are applying standards for counting provisional ballots that are so burdensome that the provisional ballot becomes an empty promise.


Officials' answers to specific questions about how provisional ballots will be counted sometimes differ either because the policies are not accurately communicated to election office workers or because the policies are not yet in place. But answers from the Secretary of State's office indicate two very troubling issues:


a.. Colorado refuses to count provisional ballots that are cast in the wrong polling place. Between redistricting, polling place changes, delayed processing of voter registration forms, and the fact that people may have moved since they last voted, it may be difficult for voters to find their polling place. This is of special concern this presidential election year because there will be so many first-time and infrequent voters.

a.. Colorado will not count provisional ballots if the voter does not present identification. Further, the state refuses to allow voters a chance to show their ID at a later time. One of the more onerous requirements made law by HAVA is that many first time voters will have to present certain kinds of ID before they can vote. Some other states plan to assess each voter's eligibility on a case-by-case basis, using signature verification or driver license databases, and most states will at least allow voters to provide ID later, after completing the provisional ballot. But under Colorado's current policy, voters would be better off if they weren't presented provisional ballots to begin with.

The promise of HAVA that every eligible voter's ballot will be counted will prove false unless things change soon. Tell Secretary Davidson that she must work with local election officials to fix the provisional voting problems and ensure that every vote counts this November.


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