DENVER - Coloradans would vote primarily by mail, and they could register to vote on Election Day, under a bill Democrats are proposing at the state Capitol.
Neighborhood polling places at schools and churches would be a thing of the past, and in-person voting would happen at a few centralized voting centers in each county, if the bill passes.
Even before it has been introduced, the bill has touched off a partisan fight.
But the Colorado County Clerks Association supports the bill. Many clerks, like Montezuma County's Carol Tullis, are Republicans and still support the bill.
"It sounds good on the surface," Tullis said.
A majority of voters prefer to vote by mail, so Tullis thinks that mailing ballots to all registered voters would simplify the system for voters.
And it will be cheaper for Montezuma County, Tullis said. Instead of operating 11 neighborhood precincts, she would have three centralized voting centers for people who prefer to vote in person.
But at the Legislature, the two parties already are lining up against each other. Democrats have many county clerks on their side. Republicans are aligned with GOP Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who has been speaking out against the bill.
The Colorado County Clerks Association initiated many parts of the bill, seeking a less complicated, less expensive way to run elections.
Under the bill, every registered voter would get a mail ballot. Voters still could choose to go to a vote center during the 15 days before the election to cast their votes in person.
The bill also would eliminate the practice of putting voters on the inactive list if they miss an election. Clerks spend a lot of money in postage to voters on the inactive list, asking them to update their registration, Tullis said. Under the new bill, clerks would have to mail a ballot to inactive voters, but they wouldn't have to pay for other mailings targeted to inactive voters, as they do now.
Gessler sued county clerks in Pueblo and Denver - two Democratic strongholds - to try to prevent them from sending mail ballots to voters on the inactive list.
Most controversially, the bill would fulfill a dream for Democrats: allowing residents to register to vote on Election Day.
Although the deadline to become a Colorado resident and register to vote through a registration drive would be 22 days before the election, unregistered residents still could walk in to the county clerk's office and register as late as Election Day. Currently, people are supposed to register 29 days before the election to be able to vote.
Republicans in Denver are livid. Same-day registration opens the door to voter fraud, said Colorado Republican Committee Chairman Ryan Call.
"This is nothing more than a partisan power-grab by Democrats, taken at the expense of integrity in our elections," Call said in a news release. "The last thing Coloradans want is the legitimacy of our elections cast into doubt because of the serious potential for voter fraud."
Conventional wisdom holds that same-day registration will give Democrats an advantage. However, academics who have studied the idea find the evidence for it is sketchy.
Tullis said she is a little nervous about same-day registration, especially if there's a glitch with the state's voter database. She also wants to make sure there's minimal risk of fraud.
"Here in the Four Corners, if somebody wanted to hop from state to state to state, it would be easy for them to do. I'm a little bit nervous about that," Tullis said.
The bill was introduced in the State House on Wednesday.
joeh@cortezjournal.com
