State’s top election official threatens to refer president for prosecution
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said Monday she would consider referring President Donald Trump for prosecution in cases where doublevoting is suspected in the state.
In the latest salvo against Trump and his call for voters to test the integrity of election systems by casting both mail- in and in- person ballots, Griswold tweeted that her office is serious about combating voter fraud.
Griswold said the comment was prompted by an interview with MSNBC in which she discussed the issue of doublevoting and wanted to be clear the president would be held accountable.
“It’s important to underline to the president and the U. S. attorney general and anyone who is confused that it’s illegal to double vote,” Griswold told The Denver Post in an interview Monday. “We have safeguards in place, including signature verification, laws on ballot collection, and checking the participation in other states. If the president is causing people to vote twice, he could be partially to blame and we’ll explore the
options if it happens.”
Griswold has criticized Trump for openly challenging the electoral process. Last month she said
Trump’s call to have law enforcement at polling locations was akin to voter suppression and wouldn’t allow it. Before that, Griswold said the same of Trump’s withholding of funding for the U. S. Postal Service, which theoretically could slow the processing of mailed- in ballots. Colorado’s is one of the smoothest running mail- in election systems in the nation.
“Remember, vote only once because that’s the law,” Griswold said.
When Trump suggested double voting, she fired back in a tweet: “2020 has been unprecedented in so many ways, but I never imagined that as secretary of state I would have to inform both the president & the U. S. attorney general that it is illegal to vote twice.”
The U. S. Constitution says a sitting president can be removed from office for “high crimes and misdemeanors” by Congress via the impeachment process. The document, however, is silent on whether the president can face criminal charges in court, and the U. S. Supreme Court hasn’t directly addressed the issue.