August 15, 2013 10:43 AM UTC

Gessler's Latest "Illegal Voters" Evaporate On Examination

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• by: Colorado Pols

Last month, Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler gave Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett a list of 17 names, all suspected of voting in the November election despite being non-citizens.

Those names were among 155 people identified statewide as possible illegal voters.

But an investigation by Garnett's office found that all 17 people were citizens and were able to easily verify their status, the district attorney said Wednesday…

"Local governments and county clerks do a really good job regulating the integrity of elections, and I'll stand by that record any day of the week," Garnett said. "We don't need state officials sending us on wild goose chases for political reasons." [Pols emphasis]

Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler's years-long quest for "illegal voters" on the Colorado rolls has consistently ended in embarrassing failure, ever since his first dire warnings of ten thousand or more "illegal voters" in 2011. Verification that all 17 voters turned over to the Boulder County DA are in fact legal citizens is just the latest example of the absolutely pitiful return on Gessler's large investment of time and resources on this non-problem.

Meanwhile, other problems his office is directly responsible, like the failure of the state's mobile voter registration website to record hundreds of registrations, are brushed off as "inevitable glitches." The right-wing media and friendly organizations like True the Vote who sing Gessler's praises for the big scary numbers he throws around are silent when the truth comes out, and Gessler is found to be wasting everyone's time. The fact is, Gessler has done more to disprove the right's endless allegations of voter fraud in American elections than most of his opponents, but you'll never hear that from True the Vote. The true purpose for Gessler and conservative "vote fraud watchdogs" in these witch hunts, sowing doubt in the process and chilling participation by perfectly legal citizens, provides an ongoing raison d'être no matter what the facts are.

At this point, we believe Gessler depends on the outcome getting less attention.