Today, I joined my colleagues U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Attorney General Phil Weiser, and Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul D. López, to talk about the steps we are taking to protect your right to vote by mail, without fear of interference from the federal government.
Free and fair elections are the bedrock of our democracy. Every single American should be able to exercise their sacred and constitutional right to vote without risking their health.
Colorado has led the way nationally by demonstrating how safe, secure, and reliable vote-by-mail can be. In 2013, we made voting by mail more accessible by ensuring that every Colorado registered voter receives a ballot. And in the 2018 midterm elections, Colorado ranked second in the entire nation for voter turnout.
That’s because our goals are reducing fraud and making it as easy as possible for every eligible person to exercise their fundamental right to vote, not inhibiting that right by making the process overly burdensome. And that’s why Colorado offers several ways to vote: you can vote by mail, at a polling location, or by turning in your ballot at a drop box.
We also offer same-day registration and pre-registration for 17-year-olds who will turn 18 by Election Day. Personally, I have been mailing in my votes for as long as I can remember. You can click here to register or change your address.
I cannot stress this enough -- contrary to the false information being spread, vote-by-mail is secure. Colorado has strong safeguards in place to prevent fraud. Every ballot contains a signature box and each voter’s signature is verified. If the signature doesn’t match what’s on file, the ballot is set aside for further investigation.
What’s more, our state has shown that voting-by-mail is not a partisan issue. In our first statewide vote-by-mail election in 2014, Colorado elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate and a Republican majority to the State Senate. And this year, in our recent state primary elections, Republican voters opted to use mail ballots at a slightly higher rate than Democrats.
This full-court assault on vote-by-mail in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis poses a direct threat to our democracy.
This is the time to assure Americans that their elections will be safe and secure and that the results will be legitimate. Americans should look no further than Colorado, where we have shown that voting-by-mail is safe, reliable, nonpartisan, and popular.
It was President Ronald Reagan who said, “The right to vote is the crown jewel of American liberties and we will not see its luster diminished.”
I couldn’t agree more.
I’m honored to lead a state that sets the gold standard in voting by mail. Together, we can continue proving that when you make it easy for people to vote, more people participate - and that’s precisely the goal: a fully engaged, participatory citizenry, in which everyone has a say in who our leaders are.
Sincerely,
