Hickenlooper: Caldara’s “Gypsy Vote” Unlawful

UPDATE: Dr. Seth Masket of the University of Denver writes for Pacific Standard:

In one sense, this is an interesting case of civil disobedience: A citizen knowingly and publicly committed a crime to draw attention to a problematic law. In another, this is a pretty astounding case of a crime being manufactured to demonstrate the need to fight crime. While not quite on the level of manufacturing a galactic civil war to justify the creation of a Clone Army, this is still pretty striking, given the history of this particular issue…

Efforts to crack down on voter fraud, of course, have important consequences on subsequent elections, even if they do nothing to prevent actual fraud. Requirements for voters to bring photo identification to the polls, or efforts to limit who receives a mail-in ballot, tend to have a disparate impact on racial minorities and poorer voters. These voters tend to be strongly Democratic when they actually vote, so it’s hardly shocking that the parties have polarized on the issue of voter fraud.

But the specific case of voter fraud committed Saturday in Colorado is a pretty special one. Here’s an activist concerned about a loophole in a law that would allow people to vote outside their districts. Rather than point to the (so far nearly non-existent) illegal voters, he’s just voting illegally himself. If the statistics don’t support your case, be the statistic.

—–

Jon Caldara.

?A sternly worded press release from Gov. John Hickenlooper's office this morning:

“We are hearing disturbing reports that some people are being encouraged to go to the polls, not to legitimately vote, but to disrupt the process. That would be unlawful and makes a mockery of the democratic process. [Pols emphasis]

“We urge the county clerks in Pueblo and El Paso counties to make clear that people engaged in attempting to disrupt the elections are open to criminal prosecution. We’ve also reached out to the Attorney General to help us ensure fair elections take place this week.”

The Denver Post's Lynn Bartels was first to report Independence Institute director Jon Caldara's appearance at an El Paso County polling location Saturday morning, as well as his intentions to do so Friday. Reporting today in the aftermath of Caldara's alleged felony act:

The governor’s spokesman, Eric Brown, on Sunday talked about “political stunts.”

“We share growing concerns that some people would rather pursue political stunts than respect election law,” Brown said. “Voting integrity and respect for law should be paramount in these recall elections. Coloradans deserve at least that much.”

El Paso County Clerk Wayne Williams said he’s excited Hickenlooper is now paying attention.

“It’s too bad he didn’t pay attention before he signed the fatally flawed law that compromised the integrity of the election system. Perhaps Gov. Hickenlooper should have listened to the testimony about the problems with HB13-1303 before signing it,” Williams said in a statement. “The ‘disturbing reports’ he cites are a direct result of his ignoring the concerns of citizens and signing fatally flawed legislation.”

Again, as we've been repeatedly assured, by numerous competent authorities we trust far more than El Paso County Clerk Wayne Williams, the above statement is false. The "problem" here is not with any flaw in the legislation passed this year. The only "flaw" at work is the reasoning of the Independence Institute's director, and his willingness to commit a crime in order to make a false point. If Williams does not refer this patently obvious case of vote fraud to the district attorney, and higher authorities are forced to step in to enforce the laws he will not, that's going to look very bad–for Williams, DA Dan May, everybody. 

It's worth remembering that Clerk Williams was one of very few county clerks to oppose the election modernization bill in question which passed this year, House Bill 1303, and was written in large part by fellow county clerks from both parties. If you accept the opinion of most clerks that the bill is in fact well written, and the opinion of the Governor and many others that there is no "loophole" which allows for the fraud Caldara committed, the next logical question is why this particular county clerk is smugly refusing to enforce election law.

If you haven't noticed, open contempt for the law from certain public officials charged with enforcing it, from sheriffs and the state's gun laws to Clerk Williams and state's election laws, is starting to become a serious issue.

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Caldara Vows To “Gypsy Vote” In Recall Election

Jon Caldara.

On Tuesday, we took note of a new website from the right-wing Independence Institute that appears to give instructions on how to vote in the upcoming recall special elections in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, even if you don't live there. The severely flawed premise of the site is a fictitious "unintended consequence" of this year's Colorado House Bill 1303, the Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act, which some Republicans have claimed might allow voters from outside the two senate districts in question to participate. As even Secretary of State Scott Gessler's office has confirmed, that's false: a voter must have already moved to the district to claim their "intention" to reside there, and any false statement in the process of registering to vote is a crime. To actually vote under those false pretenses is felony voter fraud.

But nonetheless, as a press release from the Independence Institute announces today:

The Independence Institute president will exercise his legal voting rights in next week's recall election, casting a ballot in a district outside his current residence.

Independence Institute president Jon Caldara's decision to vote in the Senate District 11 recall kicks off the "Bring in the Vote" educational campaign, highlighting the significant legal changes in Colorado's "Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act," signed into law by Gov. John Hickenlooper on May 10.

Calling attention to the lax new election law sponsored by Senators John Morse and Angela Giron, both facing recall elections, Caldara announced that he has the "intention" to make his permanent home in Senate District 11, currently represented by Morse.

Under HB 1303, the "intention" to establish residence along with a few minor requirements such as being 18 years of age, living in Colorado for 22 days, and having an address in the district, permits almost anyone to "Bring in the Vote" and cast a ballot in any district.

"It is my belief that this extremely sloppy new election law was designed to legally move voters into districts where their vote is most useful. I will show how this dangerous new law works by easily and legally voting in the John Morse recall election," explained Caldara.

"John Morse sponsored this law and worked its passage through the Senate. And now, sadly, under this law future Colorado elections will be decided by which candidate has the most buses." [Pols emphasis]

Now folks, we don't know where Caldara is getting his legal advice, but we surer than hell wouldn't try this based on every sane interpretation of House Bill 1303 we've heard. Certainly if the legal question hinges on "intent," Caldara's "intent" is to mess with the system–and quite possibly to encourage fellow Republicans to do the same. That and to draw attention to himself, naturally. Either way, we are very confident that no one on the Democratic side of these recalls has any plans to bus people in to so-called "gypsy vote," because they all think this half-baked theory is completely wrong.

But apparently Jon Caldara isn't convinced. Maybe he's right–or maybe he's setting fellow conservatives up for disaster.

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Independence Institute Encourages “Gypsy Voters”

What to vote in the recall election, but dont currently reside in the district? Go to http://t.co/XfbhKUgIIx to learn your rights #coleg

— Jon Caldara (@JonCaldara) September 3, 2013

Jon Caldara.

?Clicking through on that eyebrow-raising Tweet from Jon Caldara takes you to a new website, Bring In The Vote, which advertises itself as "a project of the Independence Institute." Here's what it says:

Something really cool in the new law, you can even wait until the election day to decide if you have time to register and cast your ballot. No more having to register 30 days before the election and no more being required to live that entire time in the district where you choose to vote. In fact, you just have to have an address in the district. Honestly, they’d like you to live there, but no one can force you. [Pols emphasis] The law allows you to move from one Colorado district to another up until the day before the election if you have the “intention” of making the new district your home. Although they may call you a name such as “gypsy voter.” 

…Colorado lawmakers have declared that if a registered Colorado voter moves from one precinct in this state to another “with the intention of making the new county or precinct a permanent residence, the person is considered to have residence in the county or precinct to which the person has moved.”

The website is tongue-in-cheek in an inane sort of way, but there's nothing to clearly disclaim to readers anywhere that no, you cannot actually vote in these recall election if you don't reside in the districts. The truth is that any misrepresentation of one's residence to vote in a district one does not live in is a felony–to include misrepresenting one's "intentions" to reside there. When Caldara says "they'd like you to live there, but no one can force you," that's simply not true. As GOP Secretary of State Scott Gessler's own office verified, a voter must have already moved to the district in order to claim their "intention" to live there. Any false affirmation entering into this chain of events is a felony under Colorado law.

Reading these sophomorically worded "instructions," it's undeniable that a casual reading of this website could give voters the idea that they can successfully "gypsy vote" in these recall elections. There's only one instance on the entire website we can find of even the barest legal disclaimer:

This summary is provided for information purposed only and not for the purposes of offering legal advice or a legal opinion on any matter. No reader should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any statement of the Independence Institute in this summary without seeking advice from qualified legal counsel on the particular facts and circumstances involved. [Pols emphasis]

Translation: "Please don't actually do this!" But you don't see this disclaimer until you get to the bottom of one page on the site, and not the same page as the claim "no one can force you" to live in the district.

The fact is, this site is so poorly constructed and worded that most users won't get what the point is at all. But other than to encourage vote fraud, we don't have any idea why this would considered a good idea. And if the hope was actually to produce real, if perhaps unsuspecting "gypsy voters?" We don't have the words to articulate just how stupid that would be.

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Gessler Helps Debunk “Gypsy Voters” Mythology?

We've been talking for a few days now about allegations being made by conservatives regarding Colorado's voter registration process after the passage of House Bill 1303, the Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act–which will be in effect for the first time for the recall special elections in two Colorado Senate districts next month. Following some alarmist (and unfounded) comments from GOP Douglas County Clerk Jack Arrowsmith about the supposed possibility of voters being 'bused' into these districts to take advantage of a 'loophole' in the new law, the story spread rapidly through the conservative news ecosystem.

Actual voter fraud is extremely rare, of course, but the conservative coverage of this supposed 'loophole,' implying that it may be legal for voters to converge on these Senate districts from across the state, might actually lead to some number of Republican voters trying to fraudulently vote in these recall elections. We have tried our best to discourage that, but regret we may not have as large a conservative readership as the Daily Caller.

Yesterday, the Colorado Springs Independent's J. Adrian Stanley did a great job debunking the story:

While rare, fraud has always existed. Some people have attempted to register more than once using fake birthdays and Social Security numbers; others have voted more than once under one registration, perhaps by sending a mail ballot, then showing up later at a polling place.

[EL Paso County Clerk spokesman Ryan] Parsell says those types of cheaters are generally caught, and their names turned over to the local district attorney for investigation. But he worries that now, there's another way to game the system: A voter may drive in from an outside district, change his address on his registration form, and vote. Later, he says, a person can change his address back and say he intended to move, but never did…

This scenario has gotten attention on the Internet, where it's often derogatorily referred to as "gypsy voting."

…But there are a few reasons why this may turn out better than it sounds. First, according to an email from Gessler's office to Williams' office, [Pols emphasis] a person must have already moved into a district in order to vote in it.

"The 'intention' language is only relevant after the elector moved," it says.

Second, the same email confirms, clerks can and should refer any fishy behavior to the local DA's office. Ortiz, for instance, says he will track all last-minute change-of-address voters. If the address reverts in the coming months, he'll refer that voter to the DA…

And there's yet another reason why widespread fraud seems unlikely: A last-minute address change has actually long been possible. Ortiz notes that the process was previously called "emergency voting," and it wasn't popular.

The bottom line, as the Independent reports and we said days ago, is that all such misrepresentation is against the law, and anyone who actually votes using a fake residence is committing a felony. The biggest reason there is so much more discussion of vote fraud than there are actual cases is that the penalties are really very severe relative to the infraction–and that is by design. Individual, anecdotal cases of fraud consistently boil down to that one person's mistake or misguided decision, not coordinated plots to swing an election.

Again, unless a bunch of Republicans read this Daily Caller story and decide to attempt just that.

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Today In BS: “Gypsy Voters” To Overrun Recalls?

?A startling headline went up at the national conservative blog Daily Caller earlier this week:

Colorado recall elections risk becoming a ‘free-for-all’ under new Dem-sponsored election law

In yet another twist in the recall elections against gun control-supporting Democrats, it appears that anyone in the state of Colorado can vote on whether Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron get the boot or stay in office.

The quirk is a result of a new election law passed during the same contentious Democratic-controlled legislative session that produced the gun control bills — and in an additional bit of irony, Giron sponsored it in the state senate…

As reported by the Colorado Observer, the strict wording of the law can be interpreted to mean that anyone who has lived anywhere in Colorado for at least 22 days prior to the Sept. 10 recall elections can register to vote in Morse’s and Giron’s districts, all the way up until the day of the election, whether they live in those districts or not.

All that’s required under the new law is for prospective voters to tell election staff that they intend to move to those districts in the future. Those voters don’t actually have to  – state officials have no way of following up on such promises.

“Without further clarification from the Secretary of State’s rulemaking, I don’t believe any law would be broken,” Douglas County Clerk and Recorder Jack Arrowsmith told the Observer. [Pols emphasis]

So, you may have noticed that this latest scandalized claim from the right, citing a supposed "loophole" in the state's new election laws that allows voters from across the state to vote in these two Senate districts in Colorado Springs and Pueblo, hasn't been repeated by legitimate local or national media.

The reason is simple: it's a load of BS.

Folks, giving false information of any kind for the purposes of registering to vote is always a crime. It was a crime before the passage of this year's Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act, and it is still a crime. If a person misrepresents where they live, who they are or any other pertinent information, that is voter fraud. It is a criminal act. Every form completed by such a voter registering or changing registration contains clear language warning that they are affirming that information under penalty of perjury. And that's just for registration. In Colorado, if you cast a vote under an assumed name, address or any other falsified information, you are committing a felony. Period.

There are numerous Colorado statutes that detail these procedures and penalties. We've talked to a number of knowledgeable sources about it, and none of them can explain what Douglas County Clerk Jack Arrowsmith is thinking asserting that this kind of activity might be legal. Of course it's not. And the clerks certainly can track this. And district attorneys stand ready to prosecute all such violations of Colorado law.

Seeing as how this preposterous notion is only spreading in conservative circles, we would strongly advise somebody on that side of the aisle set the record straight before, well, something embarrassing happens.

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