{"id":41085,"date":"2022-04-18T12:42:26","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T18:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-earns-top-marks-for-voting-and-election-confidence\/"},"modified":"2022-04-18T18:42:26","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T18:42:26","slug":"colorado-earns-top-marks-for-voting-and-election-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-earns-top-marks-for-voting-and-election-confidence\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado earns top marks for voting and election confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado,
Colorado, Maryland and Washington received the highest scores for free and fair elections in a study from the Democracy Initiative Education Fund released April 13, with the Centennial State coming in first. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Voters in Colorado can have the highest confidence in the country that elections are free and fair in the state, according to a new study that assessed election accountability ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Colorado, Maryland and Washington received the highest scores in a study <\/a>from the Democracy Initiative Education Fund released April 13, with the Centennial State coming in first. Nine states and Washington, D.C., earned the distinction of a \u201chigh confidence\u201d rating. The DIEF is the nonprofit arm of the progressive advocacy coalition Democracy Initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always happy to see when we\u2019re recognized for our system. They\u2019re not telling us anything we don\u2019t already know,\u201d Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert \u201cBo\u201d Ortiz, a Democrat, told Colorado Newsline. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s going to be three elections this year. We see what\u2019s happening in our systems because we\u2019ve done it before and see that it\u2019s safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi were among the lowest-confidence states.<\/p>\n

\u201cDIEF findings indicate that voters in high-ranking states should have the fewest concerns about participating in the 2022 election as their states\u2019 measures encourage and support voter participation with fair and transparent processes,\u201d the study summary reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud that the Secretary of State\u2019s Office continues to deliver secure and accessible elections for Colorado voters,\u201d Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, said in an emailed statement. \u201cLiving in a democracy should mean equal access to the ballot box no matter if you live in a big city or rural town, how much money you have in your bank account, or your political affiliation. As secretary of state, I will always stand up for Colorado voters\u2019 right to make their voices heard in free, fair and secure elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study was conducted in response to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January 2021<\/a> and various state legislatures that have passed restrictive, far-reaching voting measures since.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn January 6, 2021, we all witnessed a mob storm the U.S. Capitol in an effort to disrupt a national election. But what came before and after was a storm of a different kind, with our election process disrupted by anti-voter, anti-democratic moves made by legislators in numerous state capitols,\u201d DIEF Executive Director Charly Carter said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"(Courtesy
(Courtesy of Colorado Newsline)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The study looked at voters\u2019 experiences in 2020, any state legislation passed since then that affects the voting process and how ballots will be processed in 2022. It ran a state\u2019s electoral process through a 10-point index that scored variables like voter registration, early and at-home voting practices, logistical barriers to voting, voting equipment security and external or partisan interference.<\/p>\n

Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul L\u00f3pez, a Democrat, said that practices such as ballot status updates via text message, robust voting system testing and the signature verification and cure process increase voter confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in Denver have an established trust in our ability to administer a fair, secure and a transparent election and to claim otherwise is simply foolish,\u201d he told Colorado Newsline. \u201cWe\u2019ve been doing it for a while. We see a lot of participation, and that\u2019s because of faith in the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado scored \u201chigh\u201d in eight of the 10 indices. It received those top-level marks for its automatic voter registration, non-strict voter ID law, early voting policy, at-home voting system, low ballot rejection rate, paper-trail audit system, reduced barriers to physically voting and independent election administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want voters to participate. We don\u2019t want them to sit on the sidelines,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cWe want them to trust the system and use it to its full ability, either by mailing (their ballot), dropping it off or showing up to a polling center. That\u2019s why we created those options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado received a \u201cmedium\u201d score for external interference in voting, with the study concluding that voters did not have confidence in 2020 election news coverage. It also noted that state law \u201cdoes not address voter intimidation and false election speech, weapons or police presence at the polling sites.\u201d Gov. Jared Polis signed a law in March<\/a>, however, that bans people from openly carrying firearms within 100 feet of a polling location.<\/p>\n

Colorado did not receive a rating for the index assessing the role of government and politics in voting because the governor, secretary of state and attorney general are all Democrats.<\/p>\n

Confidence in the face of election denialism<\/div>\n

While most elected leaders tout Colorado as a \u201cgold standard\u201d of election administration \u2013 and this study is another example of national kudos \u2013 there is a persistent faction of Republicans who insist the state\u2019s elections are not secure and that voter fraud is rampant.<\/p>\n

That is the primary message from multiple statewide candidates, including Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, who is running for secretary of state and is facing multiple felony indictment charges<\/a> related to her alleged role in a 2021 election security breach. At a recent rally headlined by election conspiracy theorists<\/a>, Peters said \u201cwe\u2019ve got to fix what happened in 2020\u201d before moving forward.<\/p>\n

The study notes that there are 20 candidates across the country who are running for secretary of state with a platform that questions the legitimacy of the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoters enter the 2022 election season surrounded by widespread conspiracy theories, false claims of voter fraud, disinformation campaigns and election maps that more often reflect partisan gerrymandering rather than the fair representation of all voters,\u201d the study reads.<\/p>\n

Three reports published by Peters and her allies claiming to show evidence of fraud have been repeatedly debunked by elections officials and experts<\/a>. Dozens of legal challenges against the results of the 2020 election have been thrown out by courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe critical error that some of these election deniers are making is that they are underestimating Colorado voters. Colorado voters know exactly how to vote. They know that our system is secure, that there are no problems,\u201d L\u00f3pez said. \u201cWhen they bring in this thought of the \u2018big lie\u2019 in Colorado, it doesn\u2019t make sense. Voters are not foolish in Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually insulting that some of these folks think they can bring in an outside issue like that, that\u2019s a complete fantasy based off of somebody not accepting the fact that they lost and then think that we\u2019re going to be beaten into thinking that way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Ron Hanks, who was present at the Jan. 6 insurrection, also spreads those debunked theories of election fraud under the guise of \u201celection integrity.\u201d Peters and Hanks both earned top-line spots on the ballot<\/a> for the Republican primary.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Newsline, visit www.coloradonewsline.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

state among best in nation ahead of midterms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,94,2336,266,28,107,299,1722,1509],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-41085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-state-government","tag-colorado-state-officials","tag-election","tag-headlines","tag-laws","tag-national-elections","tag-regional-elections","tag-state-elections"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41085"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=41085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}