The Denver Post

What it means that Colorado voters are canceling their registrati­ons

- Re: Re: Nicholas Monck, John Coniff,

“3,394 voters cancel registrati­on,” July 14 news story.

In a democracy, no right is more fundamenta­l than voting. Through the ballot box, we have the power to control our government and influence elected officials. Thanks to the Trump administra­tion’s effort to suppress voters under the guise of an “election integrity commission,” thousands of Coloradans have given up that right.

As a member of the Clinton presidenti­al campaign’s Colorado Voter Protection Team, I saw that the right to vote cannot be taken for granted. We should be making voting easier, not harder. Secretary of State Wayne Williams and county clerks across the state must make it clear that they will refuse to honor the commission’s inappropri­ate, and possibly illegal, request.

They should also increase efforts to educate voters about what informatio­n is, and what is not, public, as well as how rare voter fraud really is. People must have faith in elections. Demanding voters’ private informatio­n is not the way to protect Americans’ political voice.

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“Elections working well,” July 15 news story.

Your article noted that President Donald Trump’s election integrity commission “is tasked with investigat­ing voter fraud [and] voter suppressio­n.”

The data that Secretary of State Wayne Williams agreed to provide is, under Colorado law, already available to anyone who wants it, including presidenti­al commission­s, for a small fee from the secretary of state’s office. And it is used by, among others, political parties and marketing groups. The database has even been posted on the Web in its entirety.

Last week The Post reported that nearly 3,400 Coloradans withdrew their voter registrati­on to protect their data. Don’t these folks see that by doing so, the commission is itself causing voter suppressio­n? That’s 3,400 people who will not vote in future elections. And if you don’t vote, the opposition will always win.

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