Is Gessler on board with his own office’s election rule that you must live in a district to vote there?

(What’s up with the Caldara investigation? – Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Back in August, Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s office issued an election rule stating that voters must reside in the same district in which they vote, and, in case someone like Jon Caldara was wondering, Gessler’s rule stated that “intent to move, in and of itself, does not establish residence.”

This sounded sensible to people who believe in representative government.

But about a week later, the residency rule was rescinded by Gessler’s office for no apparent reason. It was part of a set of election rules, one of which was thrown out by a judge, but Gessler wasn’t required to dump the residency rule. But he did anyway.

About a month later, people who believe in representative government were surprised when Gessler stepped up to a talk-show microphone on KNUS radio and proclaimed that under Colorado’s new election law, “you don’t have to live in the district in order to be able to vote there, which I think is just absurd.”

Now, even people who don’t believe in representative government were puzzled, because in August Gessler’s office had arrived at the exact opposite conclusion about the new law.

The eternal question: What would Gessler say next?

Well, on Oct. 9, the residency rule was re-issued by Gessler’s office in almost the exact same words as before, stating that “intent to move to a new district or county, in and of itself, is not enough to establish residency.”

The rule also says: “An elector may not register to vote in a new district or county unless he or she has already moved and established his or her primary residence in the new district or county.”

Just like before, this makes sense to most everyone, except maybe Jon Caldara and…we don’t know if Gessler’s on board with it, even though it emanated from his office.

Will Gessler again be asked to step up to a talk-radio microphone and explain if he still thinks, like he said before, that Colorado’s new election law mandates that “you don’t have to live in the district in order to be able to vote there?”

How could he possibly think so, now that his office has twice concluded otherwise? I’ll be sitting by my radio, waiting for his answer on KOA, KNUS, KLZ, or wherever.

Actually, wouldn’t it be fun if Jon Caldara asked Gessler about it on his Sunday KHOW show?

View the original article here

Reporters shouldn’t spread Gessler’s misinformation that 2013 election law set deadline in recall elections

(Read this - Promoted by Colorado Pols)

What led to the latest court ruling in two recall elections in southern Colorado is an apparent conflict between Colorado's Constitution, which gives recall candidates 15 days to qualify for the election ballot after the election date is set, and Colorado law, which gives them 10 days.

But it wasn't Colorado's new election modernization law (HB13-1303) that set the 10-day deadline.

It was actually a 2012 law, sponsored by Republican Keith King and Democrat Nancy Todd. It set the 10-day window.

Here's the relevant portion of HB12-1293 that's now on the books:

1-12-117. Nomination of successor. (1) FOR PARTISAN ELECTIONS, a candidate to succeed the officer sought to be recalled shall meet the qualifications of a party candidate or an unaffiliated candidate as provided in part 8 of article 4 of this title and shall be nominated by a political party petition or an unaffiliated petition as provided in part 9 of article 4 of this title. Nomination petitions MAY BE CIRCULATED BEGINNING THE FIRST DATE ON WHICH A PROTEST MAY BE FILED and affidavits of intent to run as a write-in candidate shall be filed no later than fifteen TEN CALENDAR days after the date on which the appropriate governing body convenes and DESIGNATED ELECTION OFFICIAL sets the election date AS PROVIDED IN SECTION1-12-111.

The Denver Post got it wrong in a Spot blog post yesterday, reporting that the new election law set the 10-day limit, and the Associated Press made the same implication in a story yesterday.

If it weren’t for the 2013 election law, county clerks would have been able to choose not to run an all-mail-in-ballot recall election, because the law mandates all-mail voting.

But they still would have had to rely on the 10-day deadline for permanent vote-by-mail voters and for absentee and overseas ballots, including ballots for military personnel. So the statutory conflict with the state constitution would have come up anyway.

In fact the problem would have arose had a recall election occurred anytime since Colorado started using mail ballots in the 1990's as ColoradoPols has pointed out yesterday, citing former GOP Secretary of State Donetta Davidson.

I can't blame reporters for being confused, however, when you have the State's top election official, Scott Gessler, spreading false information about this topic and promoting himself in the process.

On KOA's Mike Rosen show Aug. 13, Secretary of State Scott Gessler held up himself as white knight who tried to fix the 10-day-deadline problem in the election modernization bill, even though the new law isn't the cause of the problem. Listen to Gessler here @4 minutes into the recording.

Rosen: "A judge ruled that a provision of the state Constitution, that apparently only applies to a recall election, says that you only have 15 days prior to the election to turn in enough signatures to get your candidate's name on the ballot. And the lawsuit brought by the Libertarians says instead they were given only 10 days after the Governor set the election date…It's a little confusing, since the Constitution conflicts with election-reform legislation passed in the last session. Now it all lands back in Secretary of State Scott Gessler's lap… I gave a brief summary. Put some more details on it. "

Gessler: "Well, your summary is pretty accurate. We had tried to harmonize the statute and the Constitution. Ironically, I was very much opposed to the legislation that went through last year but found myself in the position where I had to defend it…."

Rosen: "How about the conflict between what the state Constitution says, that apparently applies only to recall elections, and what was in the new legislation passed this year?"

Gessler: "Well, the judge held that it was a conflict. We had tried to harmonize it, but it is what it is. So our approach is, you know, we've got to make this work.

Rosen should have Gessler back on his show to explain that the 2013 election-monderization law did not lead to the latest court ruling in the recall elections, and media outlets who published misleading articles should clarify.

View the original article here