Colorado Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office said it accidentally sent 30,000 voter registration notices to noncitizens last month encouraging them to register to vote.
Griswold’s office said it was unaware that any noncitizens who received the postcards in error had tried to register.
“Griswold’s office said the postcards were mistakenly mailed on Sept. 27 after department employees compared a list of names of 102,000 people provided by the Electronic Registration Information Center to a database of Colorado residents issued driver’s licenses,” Fox News reports.
Colorado got caught trying to register 30,000 illegals to vote!🤬 pic.twitter.com/gyDUcRf2E9
— Bev A 🍁🧡💛🍁 (@bevand09) October 10, 2022
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Colorado’s secretary of state office says it mistakenly sent postcards to about 30,000 noncitizens encouraging them to register to vote, blaming the error on a database glitch related to the state's list of residents with driver's licenses. https://t.co/dXWXDhwo83
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 10, 2022
From Fox News:
That Department of Revenue driver’s license list includes residents issued special licenses for people who are not U.S. citizens. But it didn’t include formatting information that normally would have allowed the Department of State to eliminate those names before the mailers went out, Griswold’s office said.
The Colorado postcards, in English and Spanish, specify that residents must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years old to register. They tell recipients how to register but are not a registration form.
Griswold’s office said it was unaware that any noncitizens who received the postcards in error had tried to register and that none will be allowed to register to vote even if they try.
Her office is now sending notices to the roughly 30,000 people who aren’t citizens but who mistakenly received the postcards. It is also applying several efforts to prevent or reject anyone not eligible to vote from registering, including comparing Social Security Numbers required for each application, on a daily basis. County clerks also will refer suspect cases to local district attorneys for review.
The incident is under investigation, it said. Colorado Public Radio News first reported the error. The news comes amid widespread distrust of voting integrity following the 2020 presidential election.
The Associated Press noted the response from Colorado Republicans:
Colorado’s Republican Party chair, Kristi Burton Brown, condemned Griswold for the error, saying in a Monday statement that “Jena Griswold continues to make easily avoidable errors just before ballots go out” by mail on Oct. 17.
Griswold faces Republican Pam Anderson, a former suburban Denver clerk and head of the state’s county clerks association, who is a staunch advocate of Colorado’s all-mail voting system.
“Colorado is among at least 18 states, along with the District of Columbia, that issue driver’s licenses to non-U.S. citizens, according to the National Council on State Legislatures,” the Associated Press added.
“Colorado also automatically registers eligible voters when they obtain their driver’s license from the Department of Motor Vehicles.”
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