I was just on the Mario Solis-Marich show to discuss a possible pending lawsuit against Secretary of State Mike Coffman and his office for the fraud of how he is now interpreting the voter registration form, disenfranchising potentially thousands of new voters in Colorado (whether they are for Obama or McCain for president).
As reported previously by at SquareState, Coffman issued a ruling back in July offering a new interpretation to the Voter Registration form in the ID section. He's saying that if you provided your Social Security number or just the last four of the Social Security number, but didn't check the box that you don't have a CO driver's license number, then the form is invalid. This completely contradicts how his office training people to do voter registration, and he continues to misinform on this on the SoS website. As Susan the Neon Nurse noted, on this page, the following link, First Time Voter ID Requirements it says:
Or you may provide one of the following numbers (without providing a physical copy of the number):
- Valid Colorado Driver’s License number
- Valid Colorado Department of Revenue Identification number
- At least the four last digits of the voter’s Social Security number
Keep in mind, the form is not at all clear when it comes to someone with a CO drivers license and a social security number. Coffman is expecting people who provided their SS or a portion of their SS number to lie if they do in fact have a drivers license number. There is no box to check that you have both but are only providing one of the numbers. That's why you don't check either of the damn boxes.
Now, the good news is that some people are trying to correct this situation. Yesterday I spoke with Alton Dillard of the Denver Elections Division. For every form where the box wasn't checked, they're sending a letter to the registrant asking them to complete the form. Folks have until election day to get this new form back, and they will still be registered back dated to when the form was first submitted. In the case of the Colorado Democratic party and any other political committees doing this, I don't think the same would apply.
Here's the appropriate section:
You can click for a larger image. On the right there is a box that says, "I do not have a Colorado Diver's License or Dept. of Revenue Identification Number."
Next is says,
If you do not have a Colorado Driver's License, or a Department of Revenue Identification Number, then provide at least the last four digits of your Social Security Number.
Then a box that says,
I do not have a Social Security Number.
The middle statement is completely contradictory from other information as listed on their website and from information the SoS office provided in their training.
The section on the left says,
Pursuant to Federal Law, your completed Diver's License Number or your Dept. of Revenue Identification Number. If you do not have a Diver's License or Dept. of Revenue Identification Number, then you must provide the last four digits of your Social Security Number, you must check the appropriate boxes. A unique identifying number will be assigned to you by the State and you will still be registered to vote.
NOTE: If the identification section is left blank and you do not check the boxes indicating you do not have identification, you will not be registered to vote.
If you're worried about your status, you can check Vote for Change. The last judge of who's registered or not should be the SOS website. Their page to check your status is here. It used to not be that often updated, but I filed for a permanent mail in ballot a few weeks ago, and that's in there. The best thing to do would be to check these sites. If your information isn't correct, I suppose one might need to get in touch with your county clerk. There's a lookup page here.
As I mentioned on the radio, if you got the incorrectly voter registration training, you'll probably help as a witness. We don't yet know who will file the lawsuit, but I'm willing to start coordinating witnesses now. Please send me an email at squarestate.net, user johne. (put those together.)
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