May 09, 2013 01:01 PM UTC

Hickenlooper To Sign Elections Bill

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Washington Post's Greg Sargent:

As Reid Wilson recently put it, the Colorado measure is “the Democratic comeback to voter ID.”

Reform advocates who have been briefed on Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper’s plans tell me they expect him to sign the legislation tomorrow. The measure, which has cleared both houses in Colorado, contains a number of key provisions. It requires a ballot to be mailed to every registered voter; voters choose how to vote, whether by mail or dropping off the ballot, or even in person, early or on election day. It lengthens the early voting period and shortens the time required for state residency in order to qualify to vote. It expands voter registration through Election Day. And it allows people to vote at any precinct within their county.

“The biggest problem is people showing up at the wrong precinct,” Ellen Dumm, spokesperson for Coloradans for Voter Access and Modernized Elections, tells me. “This is unique in that expands all options. It really does expand access to voting at a time when we’ve seen a lot of restriction of voting. This makes voting a lot easier.”

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AP's Ivan Moreno reports via the Colorado Springs Gazette:

The governor is expected to sign a measure into law that would redefine how elections in Colorado are run, allowing same-day voter registration and ballots to be mailed to all registered voters.

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper is expected to sign the Democrat-sponsored bill Friday, according to two people working closely with the measure. They asked to remain anonymous because an official announcement had not been made.

The bill passed with unanimous support from Democrats, but not a single Republican voted for it, citing concerns about voter fraud with same-day registration. Republicans also argued the measure would be a game-changer for future elections, and some called the measure the most important of the session that was packed with contentious legislation.

The signing into law of House Bill 1303, the Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act, is one of the last major pieces of the Democratic legislative agenda to fall into place. Hickenlooper's signature was never really in doubt, it was more a question of getting the bill through without a surprise gutting or sacrifice of a major provision. Despite the over-the-top freakout that legislative Republicans and Secretary of State Scott Gessler had over the bill, the fact that it had wide bipartisan support among Colorado county clerks–the officials responsible in the first person for carrying out elections in this state–caused Gessler's increasingly strained and hyperbolic "concerns" to ring hollow. Given that the bill solved problems that Gessler had proven faithless and intransigent on, such as the unresolved status of so-called "inactive failed to vote" voters, his credibility was always weak.

Throughout the long debate over House Bill 1303, no Republican opponent was ever able to explain why this "election stealing" bill had support from county clerks in both parties–or why the most "contentious" of the bill's provisions, same-day voter registration, hasn't resulted in the avalanche of fraud they seem sure is going to result in Colorado in all the other states where it already exists.

The effect same-day registration has had in other states is an estimated 10% increase in overall voter turnout. We foresee, like the gun debate, an unpleasant reckoning for the GOP when their warnings of disaster fail to materialize. With one caveat: we do wish Gessler wasn't the one in charge of implementing this bill.