Do You Know What Scott Gessler Is Talking About?

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by: Colorado Pols

As the Colorado Independent’s John Tomasic reports:

“I really have no idea what he is talking about,” Republican Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Sheila Reiner told the Colorado Independent.

Reiner was referring to allegations made again recently by Secretary of State Scott Gessler that non-citizens are registered to vote in the state. Reiner said she has asked Gessler in the past to share what he knows so that she and the other clerks in the state can address any potential problem. She said that, in roughly the year that has passed since he first brought up the issue, details from Gessler’s office have not materialized.

“I asked for the lists when I first heard about this. I haven’t gotten any information. I just don’t know,” she said.

Gessler shared more detailed information on the topic last month at an Arapahoe County Republican Men’s Club fundraiser. He said that 150 or so non-citizen residents of the state who had been erroneously registered to vote contacted him before he had even become secretary of state and asked to be removed from the registration rolls. He said that in 2011, his first year in office, 400-some erroneously registered non-citizens had asked to be removed from the rolls, the climbing number, he said, clearly indicates a wider and more serious problem…

County clerks and staff contacted by the Independent so far in some of the state’s most populous counties, including Adams, Boulder, Denver and Pueblo, have said that they, like Reiner in Mesa County, have no knowledge of any non-citizens ever being registered to vote nor have they knowingly received any requests to be removed from the voter rolls from non-citizen residents of the state. [Pols emphasis]

We’ve been watching this situation slowly come to a head through Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s first year in office–a year marked by repeated claims that noncitizens and others were “illegally registered to vote.” In 2011, Gessler sought expanded authority to check voter registrations against other databases to identify “possible” illegal voters, and suggested that as many as 11,000, or perhaps as few as 100 and maybe zero, voters in the state were illegally registered. Subsequent to the defeat of that legislation, Gessler has admitted that he already has sufficient authority to make these checks–as was argued by opponents.

The problem is that at no point while making any of these sweeping accusations has Gessler attempted to actually prove them–certainly not on the scale he alleges. And now the clerks say they don’t know what Gessler is talking about when he claims hundreds of people have come forward asking to be removed from the rolls? In a situation where they would have to know?

When a talk radio host baselessly alleges this stuff, it’s one thing. When the state’s top elections official makes allegations of “illegal voters,” there should be hard evidence. And he should be able to produce that evidence. How much longer can Gessler go on without doing so?

13 thoughts on “Do You Know What Scott Gessler Is Talking About?”

JeffcoBlue says:

March 8, 2012 at 8:44 pm

Gessler is lying. If Gessler isn’t lying, he can prove it, but I think he would have already. The fact is, he can lie all he wants when not under oath and nobody can do anything about it.

Hell, he can lie under oath too. Who’s going to stop him? Frackenlooper?

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harrydoby says:

March 8, 2012 at 8:58 pm

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DaftPunk says:

March 8, 2012 at 9:21 pm

An illegal alien takes the step of signalling his presence in the US by registering to vote, and once informed that this is also illegal contacts the government for the second time to let them know that they should be removed from the rolls.

I’m absolutely sure this happens hundreds of times a year in Colorado.

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The realist says:

March 8, 2012 at 9:56 pm

for County Clerks. At best it raises doubt about the integrity of our voting system. At worst it places all Colorado County Clerks under suspicion for not purging undocumented voters from their lists.

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1. Ralphie says:
  
  March 8, 2012 at 10:55 pm
  
  The State keeps the lists, not the Clerks. There’s really only one list–the SoS list.
  
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2. Republican 36 says:
  
  March 8, 2012 at 11:48 pm
  
  and they are beginning to speak out against Mr. Gessler. Surely, some of the 550+ alleged illegal aliens that Gessler claims have asked him to remove their names from the voter registration lists are from these five counties and the clerks would know about this, but none of them had even heard of this until Gessler issued his unproven allegations.
  
  Mr. Gessler’s unsupported statements have gone way beyond the debate over whether Colorado should enact a voter ID statute. In fact, the debate over that bill is now irrelevant. The more important issue of his integrity is at center stage. Mr. Gessler has placed his integrity at risk by continuing to make statements that he has left completely unsupported for fourteen months since assuming office. In the end, trust is all an elected official has that is worth anything. With it, an elected official can accomplish just about anything, but without it, his or her tenure in office becomes a lost opportunity as one citizen after another, including his supporters, begins to ignore him because no one any longer knows whether he is telling the truth or lying. Mr. Gessler is fast approaching that point and once he crosses that line, his ability to maintain the public’s trust will be irretrievable.
  
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DavidThi808 says:

March 8, 2012 at 10:41 pm

Then why is he protecting the fraudulent voters and why is he letting them remain on the voter rolls. If you take him at his word, then he is failing at his job.

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1. BlueCat says:
  
  March 8, 2012 at 11:30 pm
  
  Gessler is not being truthful. He’d have been peeing all over himself waving the evidence in our faces long ago if he had any. The man is a liar with evil intentions: voter suppression to help his party win.
  
  He will need to be watched like a hawk in the 2012 general election because he clearly has no intention of overseeing a legitimate, fair election in the service of all Colorado voters. He intends to use his office to promote fraudulent influence to make sure his side wins. Period. He wants to deliver Colorado to his party in 2012 no matter what it takes.
  
  Fortunately, we have some pretty good trustworthy county clerks, including Republican ones, who don’t seem inclined to go along. I know we Dems in Arapahoe County have always felt confident we were getting a fair shake. But this is the first time we are going into an election with such a blatantly corrupt SOS. Truly the worst Colorado SOS in my memory and every bit as crooked as Harris was in Florida.
  
  We always have lawyers on hand in case voters’ rights are being violated. This time we’re really going to need them and lots more than ever before.
  
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  1. ArapaGOP says:
    
    March 9, 2012 at 12:29 am
    
    I didn’t know that. Nice to meet you, neighbor.
    
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    1. BlueCat says:
      
      March 10, 2012 at 1:25 am
      
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The realist says:

March 9, 2012 at 5:32 am

http://www.pdacommunity.org/co…

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1. harrydoby says:
  
  March 9, 2012 at 6:24 am
  
  For those that don’t follow links, you need to read this:
  
  “The RNC asks that our court vacate a decree that has as its central purpose preventing the intimidation and suppression of minority voters,” the Court’s discussion of the case began. “When, as here, a party voluntarily enters into a consent decree not once, but twice, and then waits over a quarter of a century before filing a motion to vacate to modify the decree, such action gives us pause… At present, appellant [the RNC] seeks review of the District Court’s order denying vacatur because it prefers not to comply with the Consent Decree at a critical political juncture — the upcoming election cycle.”
  
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Phoenix Rising says:

March 9, 2012 at 7:14 am

WW2 Vet and former Congressman are denied the right to vote due to overly restrictive attempts by Republicans to “tighten up” on imaginary voter fraud problems.

The Vet was turned away because his photo ID – a U.S. government issued Veterans ID – didn’t have his address on the card. He was offered a provisional ballot, but with his eyesight as bad as it was, he couldn’t read the small print. (Presumably this is someone who likes electronic voting machines because they have options for people with poor eyesight…)

The former Congressman was purged from the rolls of the precinct he’d lived in for most of his life.

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