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Tag: Colorado Secretary Of State

Gaines: Will Jena Griswold fail upward again?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Gaines: Will Jena Griswold fail upward again?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I well remember how I felt when Jena Griswold got her second term as Secretary of State. She ran against a Republican who, though eminently qualified not to mention competent, was about as plain-Jane as they come. She was boring. Oh, and she said all the right things for Trump-avoidant voters about elections and voting machines.And yet, Jena won handily. When I woke to those election results I kept asking myself how Jena continues to fail upwards. It is a mystery to me. I get party line voting, something many engage in and parties depend on, but even at that how does Jena Griswold survive primaries and contests with people who are obviously better?I read the story linked below about Griswold recently which brought...
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Colorado AG Candidate Michael Allen Calls for Full Audit After His Confidential Voter Data Was Accessed
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KOAA News, Approved, State

Colorado AG Candidate Michael Allen Calls for Full Audit After His Confidential Voter Data Was Accessed

By Alasyn Zimmerman | KOAA News Allen is running against Sec. of State Jena Griswold to become Colorado's next Attorney General this Nov. EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KOAA) — Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen, who represents El Paso and Teller counties, claimed his information was among 59 confidential voters accessed after information was wrongly made public earlier this month. The Colorado Secretary of State's office announced last week, an update to the state's "Find My Voter Registration" site made 133,000 confidential voters information public, 59 of those were accessed by someone. The voter details include the following: full name birth year voter ID registration status party affiliation residential address Allen is r...
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Proposal to Make Colorado Ballot Measures Easier to Read Reaches November Ballot
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Proposal to Make Colorado Ballot Measures Easier to Read Reaches November Ballot

By Marissa Ventrelli | The Denver Gazette A ballot initiative that would require all ballot measures to be written at no higher than an eighth-grade reading level has qualified for the November ballot, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. The measure, backed by the group Advance Colorado, would also prohibit any state law from interfering with the provision by mandating that certain language appear in ballot initiatives. Advance Colorado submitted 176,224 signatures, of which 141,305 were deemed valid, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. To qualify for the ballot, an initiative needs at least 124,238 valid signatures. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Another error from Griswold’s office exposes confidential voter records for 11 days
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Another error from Griswold’s office exposes confidential voter records for 11 days

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice For 11 days in August, the profiles of Colorado voters who had specifically asked the state to keep their information hidden were searchable by anyone who knew where to look and had the information the tool required. These are people the state allows to shield their records because they said public disclosure could expose them or a household member to criminal harassment or bodily harm.  On August 14, an update to the Secretary of State's "find my voter registration" tool removed the setting that kept their records out of public view. The office didn't notice until the late afternoon of August 25. Fifty-nine of those profiles were pulled up before anyone caught the mistake. What broke The change was suppo...
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Initiative 362 Would Require Added Identity Check on Colorado Mail Ballots
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Initiative 362 Would Require Added Identity Check on Colorado Mail Ballots

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office said Wednesday that the supporters of Initiative 362 turned in a sufficient number of voter signatures to get the question on this year’s ballot, Colorado voters will be asked in November whether to amend the state constitution to require that people verify their identity when submitting mail ballots by including the last four digits of their Social Security number or their full driver’s license or state ID number.  The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office said Wednesday that the supporters of Initiative 362 turned in a sufficient number of voter signatures to get the question on this year’s ballot. Under the measure, local election judges would be forced to dismiss ballots wit...
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Colorado Joins Lawsuit Challenging New Federal Mail Ballot Safeguards Ahead of Midterms
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Joins Lawsuit Challenging New Federal Mail Ballot Safeguards Ahead of Midterms

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics Colorado, along with 25 other states, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service to challenge a new rule that seeks to restrict the mailing of ballots to American citizens in an eligible voters list. Colorado relies heavily on the mail-in ballot system. As do several states. The U.S. Postal Service recently laid out how it would implement the order, but time is running short to impose major changes with some states beginning to send mail ballots to voters in just a few weeks. A few days ago, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court had cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s executive order, which mandates the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to create those lists — to be give...
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What the Supreme Court did, and did not do, on Trump’s mail-ballot order
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Rocky Mountain Voice, National, Top Stories

What the Supreme Court did, and did not do, on Trump’s mail-ballot order

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration a win Monday on mail-in voting, and the headlines said so. But for a Colorado voter, nothing has changed yet. The state remains set to send November ballots under existing rules, because a second court order the justices did not touch still blocks the part of the president's plan most directly tied to how voters receive their ballots. That gap between the headline and the effect is the story. The Court cleared one obstacle in Trump's path. It did not rule that his election order is legal, and it did not change how Coloradans get their ballots this fall. What it means for Colorado now Colorado is not a bystander in the case. It is one of the plaintiffs that brought th...
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Colorado Voters To Decide Whether To Cap State Income Tax At 4.4%
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Voters To Decide Whether To Cap State Income Tax At 4.4%

By Thelma Grimes | Colorado Politics Election officials on Thursday confirmed that the proposal to cap the state’s income tax at the current rate submitted signatures and voters will consequently decide its fate this November. The fight over tax rates is part of the tug and pull in Colorado between opposing political forces feuding over state revenue. One side of that fight argues that Colorado isn’t generating enough revenue to spend on state priorities, such as education. The competing side counters that the state already collects enough — but policymakers’ spending priorities are misplaced. The Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday cleared Initiative No. 232 after Advance Colorado, the group behind it, submitted more than 184,000 signatures to get it on the b...
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Colorado Graduated Tax Initiative Draws Major Support From Democratic Lawmaker’s Nonprofit
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Graduated Tax Initiative Draws Major Support From Democratic Lawmaker’s Nonprofit

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER – State Rep. Lorena Garcia, a Westminster Democrat, has been working overtime to ensure a progressive state income tax initiative makes it in front of Colorado voters this November, including donating big bucks via a tax-funded nonprofit to the issue committee charged with getting the measure on the ballot. If passed, Initiative 195 would raise the current flat tax rate of 4.4 percent to 7.4 percent for those earning more than $500,000, and increasing as incomes rise to a top rate of 8.4 percent for those earning more than $1 million. A majority of Colorado taxpayers might see a slight income tax reduction, with many eventually getting caught up in the graduated brackets, as they are not indexed for inflation. ...
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Colorado’s Citizen Initiative Process Faces Growing Influence From Deep Pockets
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado’s Citizen Initiative Process Faces Growing Influence From Deep Pockets

By Colleen Slevin | The Colorado Sun High cost of getting a measure on the ballot has given wealthy interests more power to push their agendas. Colorado loves its ballot questions, ranking among the top states for the most on the ballot. But voters also like to say no — a lot. In the over 100 years that Colorado voters have been able to petition to put questions on the state’s ballot, only 36% of the 256 questions that made it on the ballot have passed, according to a tally by the state legislature. Questions referred to the ballot by state lawmakers have done better, passing nearly 60% of the time. Between 1960 and 2024, Colorado had the third highest number of voter-initiated ballot measures, behind California and Oregon, according to John Mat...
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