Secretary of State Coffman Violates Law Again

STATEOF COLORADO
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
136 State Capitol Building
Denver, Colorado 80203
(303) 866 -2471
(303) 866 - 2003 fax

Bill Ritter, Jr.
Governor

October 9.2008

Secretary of State Mike Coffman
Colorado Department of State
1700 Broadway
Denver, CO 80290

Dear Secretary Coffman:

I am certain that you share my view that the opportunity to vote in our elections is
a fundamental right that, as public officials, we must make every effort to protect. I
believe that you also share my commitment to ensuring that all Coloradans who are
qualified and wish to exercise this right have every opportunity to do so in November's
election. The purpose of this letter is to urge you to take more aggressive steps to correct
an error made by your office regarding the deadline for remedying an incomplete voter
registration application. A letter prepared by your office and mailed by a number of
county clerks incorrectly told over 4,000 registrants with incomplete applications that any
deficiencies had to be rectified by October 6, 2008. As you know, under state statute and
your own rules, these registrants may correct or supplement their applications at anytime
prior to voting. See C.R.S. § 1-2-509(3); Election Rule 2.6.3. Your dissemination of
inaccurate information may disenfranchise hundreds or thousands of Coloradans, an
outcome that is unacceptable.
Since Monday my Office has been contacted directly by scores of constituents
who are concerned that they and others who thought they registered to vote will be
disenfranchised come election day. Members of my staff have been in contact with
members of your staff, and I am aware that your office learned last Friday that your
initial instruction to county clerks was inaccurate. Further, I understand that your office
is preparing a letter to go to the applicants who were provided inaccurate information, but
that this letter will not be completed until Friday of this week at the earliest. or as late as
next week. In my view this letter alone is too little, too late. I urge you, as the chief
election official in this State, to direct all county election officials to make personal
contact by telephone with each potential voter who may have been misled or confused by
the earlier communications. I urge you to direct county election officials to include these
people on the polling books statewide and to provide these individuals with the
opportunity to remedy this technical deficiency at the polls on election day. Finally, I
urge you to contact media outlets statewide to ensure that corrected information is
communicated as broadly as possible. In short, please ensure that these individuals are

Secretary of State Mike Coffman
October 9,2008
Page 2 of2

notified that they will be afforded every opportunity to remedy any deficiencies in their
applications with minimal burden through election day.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time this season that county election officials
have issued erroneous communications that have the potential to disenfranchise qualified
voters. Last month, EI Paso County Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink publicly
acknowledged that he had misinterpreted Colorado law when he sent an erroneous
message to Colorado College indicating that students whose parents live in another state
and claim them as dependents for tax purposes are not eligible to register to vote in
Colorado. Even after correcting his error, Mr. Balink posted on his office's website a
caution to college students warning them of potential negative ramifications of
registering to vote in Colorado. These actions were, in the first case, wrong and in the
other, beyond the scope of his duties as Clerk. His actions are unacceptable and should
be carefully scrutinized by your office.
It is critical that public officials charged with carrying out the law provide the
public with accurate information. It is all the more critical when, as here, the wrong
information has the impact of discouraging citizens from exercising a fundamental right.
Providing the wrong information is inexcusable for many reasons: it disenfranchises
voters; it makes citizens skeptical (especially when the chief election official is on the
ballot); and it exposes the State to litigation risk. But most importantly, it risks impacting
the outcome of the election.
Our focus as public officials should be on ensuring that every qualified elector in
this State is able to exercise his or her right to vote in the upcoming election. This
includes encouraging the use of mail-in ballots, as well as expanding access to early
voting opportunities. To that end, I ask that you join me in requesting that every county
across our State open its polls on weekends during the early voting period, as feasible.
Providing additional access to early voting opportunities across the State, at times most
convenient for the working men and women of Colorado, is all the more critical in this
year's election when we can expect record turnout and a longer than usual ballot. In
addition, I ask that you join me in requesting that those voters who have the flexibility in
their schedules to permit them to vote between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on election day, when
lines will be shortest, do so. It is steps like these that will help ensure that all Coloradans
who are registered and wish to vote will be able to exercise this fundamental right.
Thank you for your prompt attention to these issues.

Sincerely,
.
Bill Ritter, Jr.
Governor