Judge orders Coffman to stop voter purge
By Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News
Published October 31, 2008 at 12:27 p.m.
Updated October 31, 2008 at 5:37 p.m.
Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman was ordered to stop cancelling voters from state registration rolls at a rapidly convened federal court hearing Friday.
"There has been a violation of federal law, and that must cease and stop immediately," U.S. District Court Judge John Kane said from the bench. "That is the order."
Coffman said he would comply with it.
Kane's ruling came after activists, seizing on comments Coffman made to the Rocky Mountain News on Thursday, asked the judge to intervene Friday.
Coffman had told the Rocky that a court-approved agreement worked out this week between voting activists and his office still allowed him to remove voters from the state rolls when he found duplicate names, people who moved, felons or deceased voters.
"The process is continuing," he told the Rocky on Thursday. The plaintiffs, he said "did not prevail ... in stopping us from moving forward with additional cancellation through this election."
But activists disputed that view, and argued to Kane that Coffman was violating at least the spirit of the accord.
"We are outraged that Secretary Coffman is continuing with the illegal removal of Colorado voters from the state registration list. This is contrary to a court-approved agreement to protect voters," said Jenny Flanagan, executive director of Colorado Common Cause.
The skirmish is tied to claims from voting activists that Coffman illegally purged state rolls too close to an election. They allege it's a violation of the National Voter Registration Act and filed a lawsuit last Saturday. Coffman disputes their view.
On Wednesday, the opposing sides struck a deal that would protect provisional ballots cast by anyone removed from the rolls. Activists argued that a halt to removing names from voter rolls was implicit in the accord.
Kane agreed, and was clearly unhappy with Coffman's actions, taking no time to issue his opinion after the parties made their case.
"I don't think there is anything deliberate about this, although possibly something obdurate about the secretary's comments (to the Rocky)," Kane said. "Let's just cease and stop ... removing names immediately."
Added Kane: "I don't want to see anything more about this."
Jessie Allen, a lawyer for the activists, then told the judge she was concerned Coffman wouldn't follow the advice of state lawyers, or the judge's order.
"If the defendant doesn't listen to his counsel, he's going to be listening to me personally," Kane said. "I don't issue threats idly, and I'm not issuing one now. ... I expect to be obeyed."
Just an hour prior to the hearing, Coffman continued to maintain his office was in compliance with the agreement. He called activists' efforts to bring the matter back into the courtroom "political posturing."
After the ruling, Coffman still maintained his office was "in full compliance" with the original order. But he said he would comply with Friday's ruling.
"I'm instructing the county clerks to reinstate the registrations cancelled since 9 p.m. Wednesday," Coffman said, the time the original order took effect.
Since that then, 146 voters had been cancelled from the rolls. Coffman's office said it would reinstate those. A summary of those voters noted that one was not a citizen, one was a convicted felon and 12 were deceased.
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October 31, 2008
12:48 p.m.
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IRUNMAN writes:
Thank you thank you watchdog groups!
Your diligent work is much appreciated!!!!
October 31, 2008
1:35 p.m.
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Mtnlover writes:
Thank you, morons, for wasting even more time and effort by our election officials when they have better things to do. The court already reviewed your charges and ruled that the procedures in place are lawful. You might even consider that helping already-registered citizens vote by getting out of the hair of the S.O.S. is a worthy goal. That's not a given when you look at recent history, especially in Denver.
October 31, 2008
1:42 p.m.
Suggest removal
Exhoosier24 writes:
Mike Coffman is proving himself to be a dreadful part of the Karl Rove voter suppression effort. As a candidate for Congress in my district he should have recused himself as he is showing blatant partisanship in what should be a completely neutral role of providing voting oversight. He is a disgrace and should be sued repeatedly. I am glad I voted Hank Eng as Coffamn has shown a complete lack of sensibility in his voter purge effort. He's a Colorado version of Kenneth Blackwell and should resign immediately.
October 31, 2008
1:56 p.m.
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Nika writes:
You know, if your dead you should be removed, if you have left the state you should be removed and if there is a duplicate, it should be removed. So why would anyone disagree with that procedure. I don't get it - and what I really don't get is how these protestors feel qualified to make such a statement - show me examples of illegal removal of names, give me examples - I hear no proof. This person doesn't even have access to confidential information such as that so what is their expertise?????
October 31, 2008
2:01 p.m.
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Cwillyrun1 writes:
Coffman's correct on ensuring there's no possibility of voter fraud. If anyone's purged that shouldn't be, they can still vote and it'll be verified one way or another. This IS political posturing, from the groups that enable voter fraud to happen. Imagine the multiple lawsuits that would happen if voter fraud did occur because people who have no right to a vote weren't purged.
The efforts of these groups remind me of the Chris Farley movie "Black Sheep", where dead people had voted. Considering what ACORN has done, I appreciate the job Coffman is doing.
October 31, 2008
2:02 p.m.
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ifyem writes:
Republicans trying to steal the election again..Unbelievable!!
October 31, 2008
2:13 p.m.
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me2 writes:
The ones who were registered twice or dead, wouldn't have voted anyway. Looks like he was trying to remove legal voters along with the others.
October 31, 2008
2:15 p.m.
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Nika writes:
Well, don't think the process of ensuring valid voting is republican or democrate. That is the correct proceedure and anyone who cannot understand that is in need of education on the process. Has nothing to do with politics. If it did, we could get into the subject of Acorn and who supports that. Rather just make sure those who vote have the right to do so, no agenda.
October 31, 2008
2:15 p.m.
Suggest removal
MBR693 writes:
ifyem writes:
"Republicans trying to steal the election again..Unbelievable!!"
So the deceased and duplicate voters are all Republicans?
October 31, 2008
2:18 p.m.
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BigSky182 writes:
Removing duplicate voter records and records for deceased voters!!
Outrageous!!!!!
Just because someone DIED is no reason WHATSOEVER to remove their God-given RIGHT to a vast their vote.
huh?
October 31, 2008
2:22 p.m.
Suggest removal
Nika writes:
Well, maybe you are right. Let someone just use their ID or get one made and then the dead can once again vote - peace of cake. Kind of think that all the dead or duplicates aren't republicans - hmmm, wonder what Mickey Mouse is???
October 31, 2008
2:27 p.m.
Suggest removal
pwern writes:
Yeah, how Rovian to want to remove dead people and duplicate registrations from the voter rolls. How else could ACORN perpetrate their massive voter fraud if Democrats were only allowed one vote per living person? Coffman is clearly part of the Bush/Hitler conspiracy - next he's going to outrageously demand that the 20,000 people registered under the name 'Mickey Mouse' show an ID before they're allowed to vote. IT'S FACISM!!!
Get a freakin' grip, you Leftist whackos. If there's a problem here, it's that 'Community Organizers' like Barack Obama are registering millions of non-existent new voters, offering the homeless booze and cigarettes in exchange for their Obama vote, and then screaming 'racism' whenever anyone questions their fraud. Does it really sound like a coincidence that registrations were submitted by ACORN in seven separare states that included the names of the entire Dallas Cowboys line-up?
October 31, 2008
2:29 p.m.
Suggest removal
joggle writes:
The compromise solution sounds fair to me. It was too late to verify which names on the list could be legitimate and which ones weren't and then add them to the voter registration lists state-wide.
If someone is dead, they aren't going to show up and cast a provisional ballot. If it's a duplicate they will know who already cast their ballots in the election before looking at the provisional ballots to make sure they don't vote twice (and there will both Democrats and Republicans working together to verify the provisional ballots).
October 31, 2008
2:36 p.m.
Suggest removal
jr_mcmillin writes:
Good job Mike Coffman for doing your job. Boo to the judge for keeping a state official from conducting his duties. Since the article doesn't say he was purposefully selecting Reps or Dems, I surmise he was only cleaning up the rolls. Coffman should have kept quiet and continued with his job.
October 31, 2008
2:44 p.m.
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KatieFleming writes:
Spread the word about Protecting the Vote.
www.JustVoteColorado.org
1-866 OUR VOTE
October 31, 2008
2:47 p.m.
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revclaus writes:
The law states that NO voters should be purged within 90 days of the election. That should answer all the comments about whether dead people should be removed. Thank goodness for activists who care about voter suppression. That's why I voted for Ken Gordon for Secretary of State instead of Mike Coffman. I don't trust the party of "midnight gerrymandering."
October 31, 2008
2:48 p.m.
Suggest removal
MrJim writes:
Sounds to me more like the Dem's are worried they can't win without allowing someone to vote for their candidate multiple times at different polling locations. Well, they're probably right.
October 31, 2008
2:57 p.m.
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Nika writes:
MRJIM-good comment. Why would anyone object to a deceased person being purged. Why is it that some of you don't understand that others may get an ID made so they can vote for the deceased person. Have you people not heard about false IDs? That is not new and if the person is not alive, should not be on the rolls anyway. No one should be duplicated. Why would not anyone with honest intentions not want the voter registration to include only those who are authorized to vote - what am I missing here? Just seems that this is something all honest citizens would be in favor of but maybe I am missing something. Are you saying, revclaus, that Ken Gordon would not want only authorized citizens on the voting registration polls? That is interesting.
October 31, 2008
2:58 p.m.
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jay writes:
i hope the voters remember that coffman has broken federal law when they wonder whether or not to cast a vote for him tuesday.
October 31, 2008
3:08 p.m.
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jr_mcmillin writes:
I'm voting for him jay...... are you?......if you vote!
October 31, 2008
3:11 p.m.
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jerseycorn writes:
The more people that vote, the less likely Republicans are to win. That's why undemocratic, unqualified frauds like Coffman attempt to supress the vote EVERY election. Dead people, duplicate registrations, and so on = smokescreen. Do mistakes happen? Of course. But to read some of the comments on this article, you'd think it was an epidemic. Bottom line is Republicans like Coffman don't want to play by the rules -- even when ordered to do so. As much as it pains me to see this bozo rewarded with a Congressional seat, it'll be nice to get him out of Colorado.
October 31, 2008
3:17 p.m.
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Heidi writes:
revclaus writes:
"The law states that NO voters should be purged within 90 days of the election."
These apparently are new Colorado voters who have just recently registered to vote. So does the law you are talking about allow anyone without a valid ID to vote? This whole thing has discouraged me from wanting to vote at all if people without valid identification are being allowed to vote!
October 31, 2008
3:17 p.m.
Suggest removal
chickenlittle1234 writes:
Nika - There is nothing wrong with purging dead people from voter rolls, but I think you would have to admit the timing of all of this from a Republican Secretary of State certainly begs valid questions. The idea behind the original compromise was to have provisional ballots cast, which are counted only after they have been verified. If you, for instance, were incorrectly purged, wouldn't you want to at least have the opportunity to cast your vote by November 4, rather than have your vote taken away?
For those of you who actually consider facts, you might remember when the ACORN issue first came up, it was difficult to find any credible source who would say that voter fraud (as opposed to registration fraud) has been a significant problem, at least since the days of Jim Crow and poll taxes.
All that said, I have to say that our Gov. Ritter was interviewed on MSNBC last night and was practically begged by Rachel Maddow to make this a partisan issue, and Ritter refused to do so. Perhaps we should all take his lead and back off on ascribing motives until all the facts are in.
October 31, 2008
3:41 p.m.
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cpd writes:
Revclaus: dead people are voters?? How's that work.
October 31, 2008
3:43 p.m.
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cpd writes:
Those who think dead people and people who moved out of state don't vote in elections have never been in Chicago. Read some history about the Kennedy election. Vote early and often was not an empty phrase.
October 31, 2008
3:48 p.m.
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BMat writes:
Earlier in the day, Coffman dismissed the concerns that he was still cancelling voters. He called the activists move to bring the issue back before Kane "political posturing."
______________
Coffman has had this job since 2006. But he just started purging voter rolls in the week to ten days before the biggest election in the country.
Posturing indeed! This guy's a good ole' fashioned hypocrite.
Mrs. Coffman you should be embarrassed by the guy you're beddin' down with. Go find yerself a real man.
October 31, 2008
3:57 p.m.
Suggest removal
SlouchingTowardBoulder writes:
Judge John Kane:
- Appointed by Carter.
- Peace Corps
- Colorado's first Public Defender
- Has called for the legalization of drugs
- Has spent a lot of time on interntional "human rights" issues.
Yep, another completely unbiased judge.
October 31, 2008
3:57 p.m.
Suggest removal
expatman writes:
Anybody else out there old enough to remember "poll taxes" and "literacy tests" in the south? Why the outrage? The law states that no voter shall be purged within 90 days of an election. Period.
I do remember the oh-so-fair SOS Blackwell in Ohio. They have had four years since the last presidential election to clean up the lists. Why did they wait until 90 days before the election?
October 31, 2008
4:10 p.m.
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blownaway writes:
trying to steal the election again
October 31, 2008
4:11 p.m.
Suggest removal
rickg19611 writes:
Let ACORN determine who can vote....... they've proven themselves to be examples of voting under Democrat controlled regimes. Just like in other leftwing run countries..... Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Libya, etc.
October 31, 2008
4:35 p.m.
Suggest removal
chickenlittle1234 writes:
SlouchingTowardBoulder writes - "udge John Kane:
- Appointed by Carter.
- Peace Corps
- Colorado's first Public Defender
- Has called for the legalization of drugs
- Has spent a lot of time on interntional "human rights" issues.
Yep, another completely unbiased judge."
Yep, indeed. Why is anything you list a bad thing? A public defender? Egad! Actually making sure a fair trial occurs? Sacrilege! Human Rights? Who ever heard of such a thing?! Peace Corps?!!! Why, the commie.
October 31, 2008
4:36 p.m.
Suggest removal
chickenlittle1234 writes:
expatman - I'm not old enough, but growing up in the South, I am old enough to remember many aspects of Jim Crow. You are right on the money with your comment. Thanks.
October 31, 2008
4:54 p.m.
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Who_Me writes:
Vote early and vote often.
October 31, 2008
4:56 p.m.
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COLibertarian writes:
Why not have the deadline purging of invalid registration of voters (duplicate, death, etc) be coordinated with deadline fro registering voters. Example is why should I be registered in 2 districts? My registering within 90 days of election in new district compared to the deadline to stop purging duplicates before 90 days.........
I know this will be unpopular by both sides as it does not lend itself to conspiracy for either party. But oh well.....
Happy Halloween
October 31, 2008
5:26 p.m.
Suggest removal
AC writes:
Nika writes: "You know, if your dead you should be removed, if you have left the state you should be removed and if there is a duplicate, it should be removed. So why would anyone disagree with that procedure."
Simple. The rule isn't to never remove the names, but to stop doing it this close to the election on the possibility that you may inadvertently disenfranchise a legitimate voter when there is no reasonable opportunity to cure the mistake before election day. He can resume afterward. But if if removes a "dead person's" name and it turns out he removed the wrong person with the same name, that is a problem.
October 31, 2008
6:33 p.m.
Suggest removal
chester writes:
Once again, the Repubs are trying to win through subterfuge that which they cannot win in the voting booths across the state. Does anyone else remember Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 2004?
Voting is one thing; COUNTING the votes may prove to be another thing altogether.
I would rather have 50 unqualified people vote than deny one legitimate voter her/his right to participate in the most American of ideals.
In the past 10 years, there have been exactly 7 cases of voter fraud. Why go after a mosquito with a howitzer?
How about the rest of you?
October 31, 2008
6:47 p.m.
Suggest removal
EXrepublican writes:
So now on with counting all the votes and decide the winners.
Fairly.
Everyone who died for this country and our right to vote was Honored today by that judge.
Democracy rolls on.
October 31, 2008
7:23 p.m.
Suggest removal
jrhino writes:
hey they can still question voters appearing at the polls trying to perpatrate fraud or are not lawfully present in the United States. They should arrest these people and find out who registered them. This verdict does not apply to persons who commit voter fraud which both sides should support.
October 31, 2008
10:34 p.m.
Suggest removal
Openminded1 writes:
You have to show your ID to prove who you are in order to vote. Ok with that being said, Dead People, Micky Mouse, Donald Duck will all have to show their ID.(DUH) Also, the computer will automatically pick duplicates when they enter your name in the system. wow this is not rocket science. It doesn't matter how many names Acorn have on their list, when its time to go vote they will have to show ID....
October 31, 2008
11:49 p.m.
Suggest removal
DiamondDragon53 writes:
The Republicans really don't like to play well with others. WOW!! Let it go already! Stop tampering with elections will you!
November 1, 2008
1:21 a.m.
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ThingFish writes:
My thoughts exactly Openminded1. It's amazing how these simpletons equate the actions of teenagers working for ACORN with the devious voter suppression activities of Republican operatives.
November 1, 2008
1:22 a.m.
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p_myers661 writes:
Openminded1
The ID they will have to show can be something as easily forged as an Excel or Comcast bill. Picture ID would be the minimum standard if the left didn't scream bloody murder.
Yes, make the date for registration two weeks before the date for the end of purging. Why else do you think they're big rush to register is AFTER the 90 day deadline? They hope to get a number of illegal voters registered. Out of 147 how many were dead? One illegal alien too. Hmmm they do get utility bills don't they? Not likely to be a big problem this year.
Coffman was trying to do his job. I say that any person registered after the purge deadline should be put in the provisional ballot box unless they can produce picture IDs. I'd put the utility bill crowd in with them. They can vote but won't be counted unless the total number of provisional ballots is sufficient to make a difference in any matter. Now there is no chance of voter fraud and the votes will be counted.
It's the same argument the lefties have used to keep voters in conservative districts down.
I AM old enough to remember poll taxes and qualification tests. The white boy would be asked who takes office after the President dies. The black man would be asked to write in full the preamble to the Constitution. The process would be extended until, as a dear friend who lived through it said, "Right answer to the last question was, "This black boy ain't gonna vote here.'"
Voting was rightly treated as something precious by those in the Civil Rights Movement. ACORN and its cronies are treating it as a tool to determine WHO wins elections. So far they have had a very small success. If we don't act, they will continue to succeed their way to being able to fraudulently elect anyone they choose.
Picture ID. Period. End of problem. Think how easy it would be because of the ID strips on the back of the license. It would immediately identify the voter, verify the identification and permit the state to update their records to prevent double voting.
It is totally possible to do this. Those who roadblock it should be carefully watched. There is no honest reason to object to or oppose valid ID for voting.
November 1, 2008
6:59 a.m.
Suggest removal
EXrepublican writes:
p_myers661,
I will be interested to know just how many people use a utility bill as ID.
as well as if someone moves here from out of state, say Utah. they have gone to The Dept of revenue on pierce street to obtain a Colorado DL and it has not arrived in the mail as yet. The easily forged substitute paperwork would invalidate their republican vote then too. according to you.