Colorado Voter Info To Be Shipped To D.C. As Part Of Investigation
By Shaun Boyd
DENVER (CBS4) - Dozens of Colorado voters are rushing to join the state's "confidential voter" roll after a federal commission requested voter roll data from secretaries of state across the country.
President Donald Trump created the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity to investigate voter fraud. He claims millions of people voted illegally in 2016 but he hasn't provided evidence.
Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams called a press conference after receiving hundreds of calls from concerned voters.
"We will not give the commission information that is not public in our state. We will follow the laws of our state," he said.
But some voters, he says, don't like that.
"We've also had people -- a few -- who've asked us to violate Colorado law and some of them at times have included threats. ... We will follow the law as written," he said.
State law, he says, requires him to provide names, addresses, years of birth, party affiliations and voting history to anyone who requests it for any reason.
"What I mean by voting history, which is available as public information, is whether someone cast a ballot in a particular election. Voting history does not mean how you voted in a particular election. We have no idea how anyone voted on any particular election," Williams said.
It's information that he says his office has shared with a couple hundred political groups last year alone. But some voters are going to great lengths to prevent it from being shared with the commission. They've signed affidavits, swearing under oath that they fear harassment or harm if their information is made public so they can be designated confidential voters.
"People who meet that criteria generally include victims of domestic violence, law enforcement officials," said Williams. "'I just don't want anybody to know' is not a sufficient reason under the existing Colorado law, which I did not write and must follow."
Denver Elections says it has had 25 people request information about how to become a confidential voter. Larimer County says it has had 30 and Boulder between 50 and 75. Some voters are also going online and withdrawing their voter registration until after July 14, when the secretary of state needs to send the voter roll data to Washington D.C.
In addition to the registration information, the secretary of state was also asked to recommend changes to federal election laws to improve security and prevent voter disenfranchisement and to provide evidence of voter fraud and convictions for election related crimes.
Shaun Boyd is CBS4's political specialist. She's a veteran reporter with more than 25 years of experience. Follow her on Twitter @cbs4shaun.
