OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The State of Colorado has mistakenly sent 30,000 voter registration encouragement postcards to people illegally living in the United States.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold admitted to the mistake and blamed it on a database glitch that sent the mailers to anyone with a driver’s license, The Associated Press reported.
The Colorado GOP Issued a press release on the “mistake.”
“The incompetence of Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold seems to have no bounds. It was recently revealed by Colorado Public Radio that the Secretary of State’s office sent voter registration notices to 30,000 residents who are not citizens,” the Party said.
The office of Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold insisted none of the noncitizens will be allowed to register to vote if they try.
The news comes at a time of widespread skepticism — often unfounded — of voting integrity following the 2020 presidential election and as Griswold, who has touted her role as a national advocate for secure elections, seeks reelection in the November midterms.
“If this sounds familiar it’s because something similar has happened under Jena Griswold’s failed leadership before and coincidentally, right before an election.”
“In 2020, Griswold’s office was called out by then-Colorado GOP Chairman Ken Buck for sending taxpayer-funded postcards to dead people and non-citizens encouraging them to register to vote so they can cast ballots,” it said.
“It seems that Jena has once again become too focused on spending taxpayer dollars to boost her campaign instead of doing her job and overseeing her office so that these types of errors don’t happen.
“This time, Griswold’s mistake resulted in 30,000 non-citizens living in Colorado being mailed a postcard ‘notifying them on how they could register to vote,’” the Party said.
“There could’ve been legal repercussions for those non-citizens who received the postcard from Griswold and chose to trust her advice and try to register to vote. They would’ve been liable, not Griswold. That’s concerning,” it said.
“Jena Griswold continues to make easily avoidable errors just before ballots go out. She has spent four years serving as a taxpayer-funded partisan hack and MSNBC analyst instead of serving as a fair, unbiased Secretary of State. In 29 days, Coloradans are going to elect Pam Anderson — a serious, competent, respected, and professional leader as Secretary of State. Jena’s continued malfeasance and oddly timed ‘errors’ undermine the trust in our system and create more problems for our hardworking county clerks,” Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown said.
Colorado secretary of state says office accidentally sent 30,000 voter registration notices to noncitizens https://t.co/9YK5W6TCym
— Kyle Morris (@RealKyleMorris) October 10, 2022
Colorado secretary of state says office accidentally sent 30,000 voter registration notices to noncitizens https://t.co/IRLaPykEUM Nah, no voter fraud! Oh I see they were just 40 million mistakes in the 2020 election!
— I Like Everyone Except Dumb Asses! (@blubal42) October 11, 2022
The state said it is applying safeguards to prevent anyone who is not eligible to vote from voting, including comparing Social Security numbers.
“It should show, first of all, that mistakes can happen, but secondly that there are checks in place to make sure mistakes don’t result in disaster,” Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the Voting Rights Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said. “It’s not good this happened. It appears to be a case of human error and a database error and not some conspiracy, which I think some critics would seize on.”
It comes after, in a unanimous decision, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled on Friday that universal mail-in balloting and same-day voter registration both violate the state constitution. “The Vote-by-Mail Statute impermissibly expands the categories of absentee voters identified in Article V, Section 4A of the Delaware Constitution. Therefore, the judgment of the Court of Chancery that the Vote-by-Mail Statute violates the Delaware Constitution should be affirmed,” the court wrote.
NEWS: Delaware Supreme Court has overturned vote-by-mail and same-day registration, a HUGE blow to Delaware Democrats.
More TKhttps://t.co/b5d1s9oVNz
— Meredith Newman (@MereNewman) October 7, 2022
Reports noted that while absentee voting in the state is legal, there are restrictions. For instance, voters must be unable to actually reach their polling place due to a physical disability or a chronic illness that prevents them from being able to cast a ballot in person.
“The Vote-by-Mail Statute impermissibly expands the categories of absentee voters identified in Article V, Section 4A of the Delaware Constitution. Therefore, the judgment of the Court of Chancery that the Vote-by-Mail Statute violates the Delaware Constitution should be affirmed,” the court wrote.
“The Same-Day Registration Statute conflicts with the provisions of Article V, Section 4 of the Delaware Constitution. Consequently, the judgment of the Court of Chancery that the Same-Day Registration Statute does not violate the Delaware Constitution should be reversed. The Court enters this abbreviated order in recognition of the impending election scheduled for November 8, 2022, and the Department of Election’s desire to mail ballots to voters by or around October 10, 2022,” the ruling noted further. “A more formal opinion, fully explaining the Court’s views and the reasons supporting our unanimous decision, will issue in due course. The mandate shall issue immediately.”
