Letters Go Out To Colorado Voters Asking If They Are Legal

DENVER (CBS4) - Right now letters are going out to thousands of Colorado voters asking if they're legally allowed to cast ballots. The secretary of state says it's his job, but others say it's all about politics.

The letter gives voters two choices. They can certify they are citizens by providing their naturalization number and signing an oath, or admit they're not a citizen and voluntarily remove their name from voter rolls. If they do neither and ignore the letter, Secretary of State Scott Gessler hasn't said what happens.

Two other states that sent out similar letters have dropped those voters.

"When I see a problem with our voter rolls like this I think we have to take action," Gessler said.

As Colorado's chief election officer, Gessler says his duty is to ensure the integrity of the state's voter rolls.

"We're trying to protect the election here," he said.

That's why he says he is mailing the letter to nearly 4,000 registered voters who he suspects may not be U.S. citizens. All provided non-citizen identification when they applied for a driver's license.

"It's a pretty straight forward, friendly letter saying, 'Hey, we need your help to make sure the voter rolls are clean,' " Gessler said.

"It looks like voter suppression, it looks like voter intimidation," said Alvina Vasquez with Strong Colorado, a left-leaning coalition.

Vasquez says Gessler's actions appear politically motivated and an attempt to intimidate minorities who lean Democratic. Gessler is a Republican.

"I have no idea who's a Republican and who's a Democrat and who's unaffiliated who are getting these letters," Gessler said.

"Our fear is that Hispanics are going to receive these letters who are voters we're trying to motivate in the current election season and this letter might send a chill factor and fear factor for those voters," Vasquez said.

Vasquez insists there's no evidence of voter fraud, but Gessler provided letters from non-citizens his office has removed from voter rolls over the last four years with 430 admitting they weren't citizens.

"My view is that if we're upfront and say, 'These are laws and let's enforce the laws and apply them equally, that almost always people do the right thing.' But what we have going on is a lot of people not knowing what the law is," Gessler said.

Vasquez agrees but says trying to identify who they are 80 days before an election is risky.

"The concern is that people who do have right to vote will no longer have the right to vote," she said.

Gessler said the letters were a last resort after trying to work with the legislature and even threatening to sue Homeland Security to access its immigration database. None of the information will be turned over to immigration, according to Gessler.

There's no deadline for responding and Gessler didn't say how long he would give people or what he'll do if they don't respond. In Florida and North Carolina they simply dropped those people from voter rolls.