Election Unspun Oct 27 - Colorado's Little Black Election Box

Both candidates are campaigning heavily in Colorado, a state that has voted Democratic for President only once since 1960. The state voted Democrat in 1992 when Ross Perot split many Republicans' vote.  But voters dissatisfied with the Republican party could turn Colorado blue.  But as Blake Wesely reports from Denver, thousands of eligible voters are being blocked from the roles because they failed to check a small box on their voter registration form.

The state of Colorado is blocking as many as 10,000 eligible voters form the rolls because they failed to check a box on their voter registration form.  Colorado Secretary of State, Mike Coffman, is enforcing a new policy requiring new voters to check the box, saying they lack a state ID card if they provided their Social Security Number.

A coalition of civil and legal rights groups says Coffman's policy is in violation of federal law, and has the potential to disenfranchise thousands of voters.

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Derek Cressman is a Regional Director for Common Cause. He says registration problems in Colorado have become a central issue in this election.

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Voter confusion surrounding the check box restriction has the same potential to disenfranchise thousands of voters, leaving the outcome of the election hanging in the balance of a few thousand votes.
Coffman made the check box confusion worse by sending letters to voters telling them the deadline to correct their "incomplete" voter application was October 6th, as opposed to Election Day.

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Governor Bill Ritter joined public interest groups in saying Coffman's letter attempting to correct the error was "too little, too late."
Communications Director for the Colorado Democratic Party, Matt Farrauto, says the Secretary of State's Office is not doing enough to remedy the state's widespread voter registration problems.

Community voter registration groups are also demanding Coffman accept these disqualified voters. Steve Fenberg is executive Director of New Era Colorado, an organization to get more young people to vote.

But spokesperson for the Denver Clerk and Recorder, Alton Dillard, says it's the voter registration groups who are partly to blame for these problems.

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But Fenberg says the Secretary of State's office never told them the check box was a requirement.

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However, with the election just a couple weeks away, Derek Cressman with Common Cause, says the election in Colorado could come down to a few thousand votes and voter registration problems could tilt the election.

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New voters with "incomplete" registration forms have been sent a letter notifying them of the problem, but if they show up to the polls without correcting the error they will have to cast a Provisional Ballot.
For Election Unspun, I'm Blake Wesley in Denver.

FEATURE 2
 
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