Three cheers for activists hip, hip, hypocrisy
Coloradans are surely blessed to have two of the most earnest and sincere champions of our democracy in our state. Whatever would we do without our stalwart secretary of state and venerable attorney general defending the integrity of our election from the very real and not to be trifled with threats of postcards and tweets?
When President Donald Trump, a Republican ( an irrelevant fact to our non- partisan democracy defenders), encouraged North Carolina voters to vote by mail early and then “go to your Polling Place to see if it was COUNTED. IF NOT, VOTE!,” Secretary of State Jena Griswold sprang into action. She repeatedly, and on numerous national media networks, threatened “this is encouraging voter fraud, and I will refer you for prosecution if warranted.”
The Democrat threw a Twitter haymaker with “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.”
Coloradans likely never imagined such strong words from the very same official whose office told Kyle Clark from 9News six months ago that Democratic primary voters who cast their ballots by mail for a presidential candidate who later dropped out could … wait for it … go to a polling place and cast another ballot. Oops. But don’t worry, that Colorado secretary of state later responded to Clark’s reporting of the potentially criminal advice by boldly blaming the media for reporting her office’s statement.
Three cheers for officials who defend our elections! Hip, hip, hypocrisy!
Mum also was the word from Griswold last year when the Democrat ( again, totally irrelevant) clerk and recorder for Arapahoe County sent out a taxpayerfunded, full- color mailer ( sound familiar?) that encouraged voters to “vote early and vote often.” Silent, too, was our Democrat ( likely coincidental) attorney general, Phil Weiser.
But now, they are ready to fight a devastatingly inaccurate USPS mailer they characterized as an attempt at voter suppression that “violates the United States Constitution and federal statutes and must be stopped immediately.” Call to action!
To grasp why our SOS and AG filed a lawsuit against USPS to “protect our democracy” from a mailer that is “interfering with our election,” we must dissect this maleficent mailer.
It begins deceptively by limiting its intended audience: “If you vote by mail.” All Colorado voters will receive their ballots by mail, but will be informed that they are not required to mail them back in order to vote. By its tricky terms, the mailer is not addressing those who will vote by dropbox or government office. Outrageous! Voters cannot be trusted to read the mailer, just complicated ballot language.
“Start today. Give yourself and your election officials ample time to complete the process.” This is clearly designed to lull voters into a false sense of proactivity.
“Rules and dates vary by state, so contact your election board to confirm. Find links at usps. com/ votinginfo.” Skip over the accurate “vary by state” nonsense. I checked that link. It unscrupulously opens an entire webpage full of guidance reassuring people on how to timely and safely vote by mail. Unconscionable.
“Request your mail- in ballot ( often called “absentee” ballot) at least 15 days before Election Day.” As every voter who has been here since 2013 knows, Colorado does not make voters request ballots. Our state forces them on you. It sends them to you whether you want them or not, whether you’ve voted before, and in some cases, whether you have moved out of state, or even moved on to the afterlife. Nonetheless, it is obvious how this super- confusing language could suppress voter turnout. If a voter reads this misinformation and does nothing, they’ll get a ballot in the mail. If — instead — they read the mailer, believe it, and try ( unsuccessfully) to request a ballot by their local clerk and recorder, or God forbid, bother the secretary of state between her cable news appearances, they will break the entire system and… still get a ballot in the mail. Chaos. Disenfranchisement of the highest order, if “disenfranchisement” means nothing will stop ballots from being mailed to voters.
In fact, I am unaware of any mechanism by which an election agnostic voter can prevent a ballot from being sent to them.
The mailer confusion is compounded by the remaining language: “Once received, follow the instructions. Add postage to the return envelope if needed.” Follow the instructions? How patronizing. The gratuitous reference to additional postage “if needed” is beyond the pale. For the Republic!
“We recommend you mail your ballot at least 7 days before Election Day.” While, yes, seven days is more than enough time to mail ballots to clerks and recorders, it is wildly different than the secretary of state’s advice of … eight days. The words “at least” and “follow the instructions” are powerless to ameliorate this reckless recommendation.
Clearly, this is voter suppression. Eight days is the set- instone, immutable, arbitrarily chosen time in which to get a mailed ballot in and counted. Ignore the fact that the “vote early and vote often” mailer, referenced above, encouraged voters to mail their ballots “one week earlier to ensure smooth delivery.” I am sure that was some kind of misprint. Probably the media’s fault. Or Trump’s.
Colorado should be thankful we have officials who will defend our democracy in an aggressive, consistent, non- partisan manner to prevent voter misinformation from nefarious USPS mailers.