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Politics

Colorado Finds 300 More Noncitizens on Voter Rolls

Oct. 24, 2012 7:42am Jonathon M. Seidl

300 Noncitizens Found to be on Voter Rolls in Colorado

Voters wait in line to sing in and cast their ballots during the first day of early voting at the Washington County Administration Building in St. George, Utah Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012. Credit: AP

DENVER (AP) — There are 300 more suspected noncitizens on Colorado’s voter rolls, Secretary of State Gessler announced Tuesday in the latest chapter of a contentious national debate over what Republicans say is vulnerability in the voting system.

The latest figures are from the 3,903 people who received letters from Gessler’s office questioning their citizenship in August. During a first round of checks, Gessler said 141 others were found to be possible noncitizens based on a federal immigration database.

Gessler’s office said it has mailed letters to people believed to be ineligible voters, alerting them about the database findings so they can verify their citizenship or voluntarily remove their registrations. He has also forwarded their names to county clerks for any potential challenge at the polls if they show up to cast ballots.

The majority of the people who are suspected to be noncitizens and on the rolls are unaffiliated voters, which make up more than half, and Democrats, according to data provided by Gessler’s office. The proportion in party registration breakdown is similar to the overall number of people who received letters in August.

Critics of Gessler, who is a Republican, have questioned his political motives and argue the checks have the potential to disenfranchise eligible voters. Some of the people who have received letters questioning their citizenship have turned out to be U.S. citizens, and a few of the original 141 have maintained they are citizens.

“It’s unacceptable to have ineligible voters casting ballots in our elections,” Gessler said. “We want to ensure the most accurate reliable elections possible.”

State election officials did additional checks this month after obtaining immigration identification numbers from the state division of motor vehicles for all of people who received letters. They received letters because at one point they showed proof they weren’t U.S. citizens, such as a green card, when obtaining a driver’s license.

The latest figures mean that out of the 3,903 who received letters, 441 are believed to be non-citizens, according to the federal database, which has normally been used to check the status of legal immigrants who receive government benefits.

Of the 441 identified as suspected noncitizens, 232 are unaffiliated, 163 are Democrats, and 37 are Republican. Gessler’s office has said they did not look at party registration when checking the voter rolls for possible fraud.

Swing states, like Colorado and Florida, have gotten permission from the federal government to use the immigration database to check voter rolls. Others battleground states, like Iowa and Ohio, have also asked for permission to use the database.

Gessler and other Republican election chiefs in those states have come under heavy criticism from Democrats and voter advocacy groups, who question their political motives in a presidential election that polls show will be extremely close.

“It’s suspiciously close to the election for someone who has been so partisan for this kind behavior,” said Ellen Dumm, a consultant working for voting rights in Colorado.

Dumm said everyone agrees ineligible voters shouldn’t cast ballots. But she argued that Gessler should focus on more important issues, like making sure the secretary of state’s office website functions properly to allow people to register to vote, and coordinating with clerks on election issues before November. She said the 441 figure amounts to a “rounding error” in the greater scheme, considering there are 3.5 million registered voters in Colorado.

“Though the timing is not ideal,” Gessler said in a written statement, “I felt it was important to alert these voters that the federal government says they’re not citizens.” He also sent a letter to U.S. Attorney John Walsh in Denver on Tuesday, letting him know of the figures, and telling him that many of the voters believed to be noncitizens would appear on voter rolls across the state.

Walsh announced this month that was appointing a prosecutor to look into any voter fraud in the upcoming election. Gessler said in the letter to Walsh that his office only recently completed the citizenship checks because his office didn’t get access to the federal immigration database until late August.

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Comments (41)

donkeykong
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:07pm
IMHO – you ain’t seen nothin yet. As for this years vote,
I truly believe “the fix is in’. And when O-devil is re-elected,
by fraud, THAT’S when the uprising will begin. But, the DHS,
with their 1.4 billion rounds of ammo, will be ready for us…
after all, why else did they buy all that ammo ????

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pitboss711
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 7:29pm
This irritates me to no end. I recently moved back to my home state which has a voter ID law. It took me a week to get my state-issue birth certificate. Because I requested it to get a state ID for voting purposes…it was FREE! It took 15 minutes at the county courthouse to apply for a state ID and 10 days to get it in the mail…it was also FREE! I’m 64 and live on early social security. So much for the argument that voter ID laws are a burden on seniors and low income people. Lousy lying liberals just want to make it easier to commit voter fraud.

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Grand design
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 5:45pm
Most, if not all would be voting Democrat, no matter what it said on their voter application!
That is how Democrats win elections! Just a debase group of political operatives!

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yukon42
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 4:36pm
And so it begins, illegal immigrants, dogs, cats, dead people, so forth. Remember Vote and Vote Often.

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Duey2000
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 1:50pm
So more than 10% of the ones that they were concerned about actually WERE inelligible?!? Why do people have a problem with voter ID laws. Hell, I would PAY for people to get state ID cards if that is what it took to eliminate voter fraud.

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AlwaysAmazed
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 1:46pm
This process of one-live-citizen, one-vote must be repaired by the mid-terms in ’14. It should have never been allowed to be broken in the first place. I am tired of losing my vote to thieves. We have the technology.

If the worng guy is elected due to fraud, I am in favor of doing a full nationwide recount vote-by-vote to verify that the correct person was elected, I don’t care the cost or how long it takes.

Prosecute. Prosecute. Prosecute!

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AlwaysAmazed
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 1:28pm
Unacceptable! I didn’t even need to read past the headline! “Fix It By Fourteen”

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voting-for-romney
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 1:22pm
The last election was not won by that many votes? I know what your thinking, we should just use the Census database, because that is the real accurate database? Show up to vote? We’re sorry, you were not in the last Census, have a nice day? Yes, that was two sarcastic questions that make two points? One, why do we have a Census when we have accurate databases? Two, databases have to used, otherwise they are a waste of money?

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FightingBear
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 1:09pm
The libs are so predictable.

If you find ineligble names on the voter roles…you can’t do anything about it because it might disenfranchise some eligable voters.

Absolutely assanine!

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Nanaswords
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 1:05pm
What about the “Prison Felon Vote” in our nation also ?????? That is what turned the race and vote for the “Obamacare” to a success !!!!!!!!!! With all the current news in our country…States need not be concerned about the back- flack from justice dept…e. holder !!! More LIGHT… More Reveals… DAILY !!!

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2ndAmenGuy
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 12:27pm
Voter fraud will be nationwide this year. Just pry we are sharper enough to catch it before its too late. This is exactly why I dont like the early voting option. Rather do it in person so I can see where my vote is really going. Guess if you cant be there then it works for your situation. Just Saying!!!

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- AlwaysAmazed
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 1:34pm
  Early voting maybe by 3 days for select reasons. Otherwise, get your azz to the poll on the first Tuesday in November like everyone else. THAT is voting day. How long have those Ohioans been voting? For a freakin’ month now? Get a grip Ohio. You are such tools!
  
  Report this comment
dmerwin
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 11:38am
“Non citizens”, dead people, people registered in two different states or precincts. And the Justice department sues states for attempting to purge voter rolls. Thanks, Eric and Barack, just might be the votes you need to win.

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Detroit paperboy
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:56am
Eric “the douchebag ” Holder will now sue Colorado………..

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LovinUSA
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:45am
Bravo, Colorado! Keep up the good work on surveillance, Hope the rest of OUR STATES DO THE SAME!

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- OutOfTheAether
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:38am
  Amen!
  
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- Rogue
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 11:09am
  I live in Colorado, and went to vote early yesterday. I was so proud of my state!
  
  Not only was I required to show a photo ID, but they also required me to sign my signature in front of the election official, then the official compared it to the signature that is on-file with the state DMV.
  
  This whole exchange took less than 30 seconds, and left no doubt that I was who I claimed to be. We’ll see if this holds true for blue urban Denver districts, but it is a huge leap forward compared to the 2010 midterms where thousands of fraudulent votes decided our Senate race.
  
  If fraud is kept in check this year in Colorado, Romney will easily win the state
  
  Report this comment
hkyfan36
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:40am
I live in Colorado and this just burns me. I drive for a living and there are very few Obama signs in yards this time around. Every where you look its a Romney Ryan sign in the yards and windows. The ratio is about 35 to 1. Around the college towns you see a little more Obama signs but even in those areas its still overwhelmingly Romney. It does give me hope that state will swing to red this time around.

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john vincent
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:31am
This is just the beginning:
-accuse your enemies of the fraud that you perpetuate;
-employ computer ‘programmers’ to skew vote tallies
-use foreign personnel to ‘watch’ voting areas.
-harass voters
-intimidate voters
-threaten voters

it will only get uglier

etc.
Obama and co. will stop at nothing to further his kingship

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Beachbaby
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:07am
Houston Texas voting machines are like North Carolina. Vote for Romney, it shows a vote for Obama instead.

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- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:11am
  Imagine that , the Communist are cheating !
  
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kat747
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:49am
Are the votes still going to be counted in Spain by George Soros’ friend ?????

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kay2861
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:42am
“Gessler and other Republican election chiefs in those states have come under heavy criticism from Democrats and voter advocacy groups, who question their political motives”

Dead people, cartoon characters and illegal aliens overwhelmingly vote Democrat. Anyone with more than one brain cell knows that going over the voter roles is about protecting the integrity of our elections, and has absolutely NOTHING to do with racism or voter intimidation. Democrats lie and cheat to win elections, and then they have the chutzpah to question our motives?!!! Unbelievable!

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GETLIFE
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:34am
Well Ms.Dumm, all you need are a few more, in your judgement, “rounding errors”….
Man, if I were her, I’d change my name.
Then again, it’s fitting that she hasn’t.

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Ron Staiger
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:24am
The only people who disagree with voter ID laws are those who want to steal the vote. There is no other explanation and they can’t hide behind their frivolous racially-charged lies. What people should be concerned about is the White House’s attempt to disenfranchise military voters- voter rights activists should be lamenting over this instead.

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- mikem1969
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:37am
  Amen Ron, not only do we need voter id laws, we need to puge the voter roles each year so we keep dead people, cons, and illegals off the roles.
  
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Joe Botz
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:15am
Those found to be guilty should do hard time!

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Gonzo
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:10am
North Carolina early voters are having trouble with the machines defaulting to Obama after a voter selects Romney. Make sure you check your final ballot carefully before you approve it. Interestingly, the machines have not yet been reported to ever default to Romney after a voter picks Obama. Just a coincidence, I’m sure.

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:31am
  GONZO, I almost expect my polling place will be safe, but I will definitely be watching for that. Where did you hear about the NC machines? I’d like to check into that more.
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:38am
  GONZO, Just looked it up and before I could start the video about Guilford County, Fox ran the story too. Thanks for putting this out there.
  
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- PilgrimStuckInBizarroWorld
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:39am
  RJ fox just reported on this 8:37 this morning.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:43am
  PILGRIMSTUCKINBIZARROWORLD, Thanks, caught it too. Hope to see a larger time slot allotted to it soon.
  I am ready to go back to a simple paper ballot where we all ink a finger or thumb print next to each person’s name for whom we intend to vote. I’ll gladly step out of our polls holding up my stained thumb.
  
  Report this comment
- Eastinfection
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:54am
  Wow.. and everybody here piles on the Libertarians by saying a “vote for Gary Johnson” is a vote for Obama!”……
  …..turns out a vote for Romney is a vote for Obama?
  
  Report this comment
- Gonzo
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 9:12am
  I heard it 6:00 AM on the Steve Gill radio show out of Nashville. Here is a link to the story on his site.
  http://gillreport.com/2012/10/video-nc-voting-machines-automatically-casting-votes-for-obama/
  
  Report this comment
- GrayPanther
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:24am
  GONZO is up to date! Software can do many things and one is to allow hardware to cheat the voter. Hopefully, all Democ-rat strongholds will have poll watchers from Republican headquarters. Oh, I forgot, we have UN observers watching those areas. And Eric “the Racist” Holder will certify the results?
  
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- Gonzo
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 10:41am
  Drudge has it now.
  
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barber2
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 7:54am
“Didn’t get access to the federal immigration database until late August.” Why so late ?

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- SaturdaysWarrior76
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:04am
  Good question!
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:13am
  Obviously they were waiting for the Rockies to be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs so their non-citizen voting players wouldn’t be implicated…
  
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Gary_K
Posted on October 24, 2012 at 7:49am
Just 300, strange. I would have thought there were thousands.

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 24, 2012 at 8:19am
  I am sure there are more. The difficulty is catching more in such a short time. You also have to know that there are those within the government setting up roadblocks too.
  
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