(RepublicanInformer.com)- The previous month, over 30,000 noncitizens residing in Colorado were persuaded to vote via the mail. The office of Democratic candidate for secretary of state Jena Griswold placed the blame for the mix-up on an “error.” Colorado Public Radio News was the organization that broke the news first.
On September 27, department personnel matched a list of names of 102,000 persons supplied by the Electronic Registration Information Center to a database that included the names of Colorado citizens who had been awarded driver’s licenses.
This list of driver’s licenses issued by the Department of Revenue in Colorado contains the names of Colorado residents who have been granted special licenses for those not citizens of the United States. According to Griswold’s office, the list did not include any formatting information that would have enabled the department to exclude noncitizens before sending out the mailers. This would have been necessary.
Postcards sent in Colorado, which were printed in both English and Spanish, had a clause stating that inhabitants must be citizens of the United States and at least 18 years old to register. The mailings provide recipients instructions on how to register to vote but do not include a voter registration form.
The office of Griswold said that it was unaware if any noncitizens who had received the mailings had attempted to register to vote, and if they did try to register, they would not be permitted to do so.
Her agency is now in the process of contacting the 30,000 noncitizen receivers who got the mailers by accident due to an administrative error. It also adopts many methods to prevent noncitizens from registering to vote, including comparing Social Security Numbers necessary for each application. In addition, county clerks will have the authority to send matters for additional consideration to their respective local district attorneys.
According to Griswold’s office, an inquiry into the event has been opened.
Kristi Burton Brown, the chair of the Republican Party in Colorado, criticized Jena Griswold for the error on Monday, saying in a statement that “Jena Griswold continues to make easily avoidable errors just before ballots go out” by mail on October 17. Brown’s statement came after Griswold made the mistake.
