Donald Trump

Feds ask states not to send over controversial voter roll information until court settles suit

DENVER – There’s a chance that Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams won’t be sending over Colorado voter roll information on Friday, as the Election Integrity Commission on Monday asked Williams and other secretaries of state not to send the information over until a judge settles a court case over the commission’s intentions.

Last week, the Electronic Privacy Information Center was among several organizations that sued in federal court seeking to block the commission’s quest to gather voter data from each state in the U.S. Continue reading

Hundreds withdraw Colorado voter registrations in response to compliance with commission request

DENVER – At least two Colorado county clerks say they’ve seen a large increase in the number of people who have withdrawn their state voter registration since Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams said he would send the Trump administration’s election integrity commission some voter-roll information in accordance with state law.

Alton Dillard, a spokesperson for the Denver Elections Division, said 180 people have withdrawn their registration in the county since July 3. When compared to the eight people who withdrew their registration from June 26-29, it marks a 2,150 percent increase, according to Dillard. Continue reading

Can I make my Colorado voter information confidential?

DENVER – If you’re concerned about what the Trump administration’s controversial Election Integrity Commission might do with your personal voting records when Colorado hands over what it’s legally bound to do later this month, there are a few remedies, but you have to meet certain criteria to have your information be made confidential.

Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams reiterated Wednesday that he would hand over to the commission what he is already required to give to anyone under state law: a voter’s full name, address, party affiliation and date the person registered, phone number, gender identity, birth year, and information about if a person has voted in prior elections.

He said he wouldn’t hand over a voter’s Social Security number or full date of birth—two things the commission requested but will not get, as those things are not public record in Colorado.

It’s possible to de-register to vote, though the Denver Elections Division advises against doing so.

Williams also discussed the state’s confidential voter program, which allows certain people—mainly domestic violence victims or stalking—to sign a document saying their information shouldn’t be released because doing so would be a risk to their safety. Lying on the document would make a person subject to perjury charges. Some law enforcement officers may be covered under certain circumstances, especially those working undercover.

Those petitioning for the voter protections will have to pay $5 when they turn their application in to their local county or city clerks’ office.

There is also a similar program called the Address Confidentiality Program, which applies mostly to domestic violence victims, stalking victims, and victims of sexual assault.

“Colorado’s confidential voter program is based through the law, not a fiat from the secretary of state or something else,” Williams said. “It’s based on attestation from the individual, under oath, that they meet one of the criteria.”

According to state law, a person can request that their address not be made public in any public documents if they are a survivor of sexual assault, domestic violence, or stalking and fear for their safety or that of a family member.

Those people will also have to have evidence of their being victimized and had to have moved within the past 90 days or be planning to move.

The program gives a different address to be publicly listed for anyone who qualifies for protection, and applies to all official state documents and other utilities accounts.

Colorado says there are more than 2,500 active participants in the Address Confidentiality Program, and that more than 4,000 people have used the service since it started in July 2008.

The state says it plans to send the voter rolls over to the commission by 8 a.m. July 14.

Read more on the Address Confidentiality Program here. To read more about the commission’s request and Williams’ responses over the past week, click here.

Colorado secretary of state will send voter roll info allowable under state law to feds

DENVER – Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams held a news conference Wednesday morning to further address the voter roll information requested by President Donald Trump’s commission on election fraud.

Last week, the vice chair of the Election Integrity Commission, Kris Kobach, sent a letter to Williams and all other secretaries of state requesting the full name, address, date of birth, affiliated political party, last four Social Security number digits and voting history since 2006 of every voter in the state and country. Continue reading

Colo. GOP Rep. Mike Coffman basically started a hashtag telling Trump to stop the Twitter tantrums

DENVER – U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman was back on Twitter over the July 4 weekend imploring President Donald Trump to stop his controversial and often petty Twitter usage.

“Exactly what I meant when I said, #StopTheTwitterTantrums,” Coffman, a Colorado Republican, tweeted Sunday in response to the president’s latest controversial statement: A gif of the president and showbiz entertainer slamming “CNN,” or rather a person with a CNN graphic overlayed on their head, to the ground at a WWE wrestling match.

The tweet originated on a Reddit board used by proponents of the president, coming from a user with a history of racist posts. It also doesn’t show what happened to Trump in the WWE match afterward: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin delivered his signature move to Trump, the “Stone Cold Stunner.”

It was the second time Coffman used the hashtag #StopTheTwitterTantrums in four days in response to one of the president’s tweets.

Last Thursday, after President Trump took to Twitter to again disparage “Morning Joe” hostess Mika Brzezinski (“low I.Q.”) and host Joe Scarborough (“Psycho Joe”) as part of his ongoing feud with the show, which had long been one of his favorites.

Trump also said Brzezinski was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” when he saw the couple on New Year’s Eve.

Trump’s tweets were panned across the political and social spectrum, including by Coffman.

“The President’s tweets are beneath the dignity of his office. It needs to stop. #StopTheTwitterTantrums,” Coffman tweeted.

And Coffman appears to have popularized the hashtag, which has been used more than 100 times on Twitter since he first used it on June 29.

It had only been used on Twitter three times before Coffman’s tweet—all by various people in response to a Trump tweet.

Coffman has been one of Colorado’s only Republican members of Congress to take a stand against a major Trump initiative, when he voted against the American Health Care Act, the House Republicans’ version of the effort to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act.

He also voted against the repeal of an FCC rule that kept internet service providers from sharing user data and selling it to other companies.

But aside from that, according to FiveThirtyEight’s “Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump” tracker, Coffman has supported every other major policy measure supported by the president, agreeing with the president’s position 94.6 percent of the time.

Though many Republicans have voiced their opinion that Trump’s tweets are below the office of the President, Democrats and some newspaper op-ed pages have scoffed at those statements, saying Republicans should instead stand up to Trump on policy measures instead of just his tweets.

The Denver Post had a new editorial out Monday as well regarding Trump’s tweets: “Instead of wrestling CNN, Trump should have gone to Comic Con”.

Some face police interference charges in protest at Cory Gardner’s office; building manager ID’d

DENVER – The 10 disability advocates arrested Thursday evening at the Denver office of U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., were all in the process of being released from jail Friday afternoon, save one woman who was not admitted to Denver’s jail because of her medical condition.

The Denver Police Department criminal complaints for those arrested all say that Andrew Merritt, who is Gardner’s state director for Colorado, was the person who advised police that the advocates were to be removed from the building. The reports say police were notified at 6:44 p.m. Continue reading

Trump election fraud commission wants personal information from Colorado, US voter rolls

DENVER – The vice chair of President Donald Trump’s controversial Election Integrity Commission wants the full name, address, date of birth, affiliated political party, last four Social Security number digits and voting history since 2006 of every voter not only in Colorado, but in the entire U.S., and wants that information to be made available to the public.

The vice chair of the commission, Kris Kobach, sent a letter requesting that information and more on Wednesday to Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams and every other secretary of state for all 50 states. Continue reading

Disability advocates continue sit-in at Cory Gardner’s office over healthcare bill, won’t be removed

DENVER – A group of advocates, many of whom who are disabled, continue to protest at U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s office nearly 24 hours after they took up residency to demand the Republican senator from Colorado vote against the Senate health care bill.

Many of the protesters are from ADAPT/Atlantis Community, Inc., a Denver-based group whose efforts are usually focused on increasing accessibility for disabled people on public transit systems. Continue reading

Hickenlooper comments on health care process show some of disconnect between parties

DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s bipartisan push to block congressional Republicans’ efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act reached a fever pitch Tuesday morning at a news conference he held with Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, just hours before the Senate majority announced it would delay a vote on its version of the health care bill because it didn’t have the votes to bring it to the floor.

There was some question about whether Hickenlooper and Colorado’s Republican senator, Cory Gardner, had even talked about the bill earlier Tuesday after Hickenlooper made comments hinting that they hadn’t talked at a National Press Club news conference Tuesday morning. Continue reading

CBO: Senate healthcare bill leaves 22M fewer insured by 2026, but more deficit-friendly than House’s

DENVER – The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the Senate’s health care bill will leave 22 million people who currently have insurance under the Affordable Care Act without it over the next 10 years—a slight improvement on the 23 million people who would lose insurance under the House version of the bill scored in May.

But the CBO estimates that 15 million people will lose insurance next year alone when compared to those insured under the Affordable Care Act. The CBO estimated 14 million people would lose insurance in 2018 under the House version of the bill. Continue reading