Conservative organizers say they have submitted more than 200,000 signatures for a ballot measure that would fortify a current ban on non-citizens voting in Colorado elections.
Backed by state Rep. Patrick Neville, a Castle Rock Republican and the Colorado House’s minority leader, the organizers hope to place Initiative 76 on the 2020 ballot. Signatures from 2% of voters in every state Senate district and a total of 124,632 signatures are required.
Ten Republican legislators hauled 30 boxes of signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office in downtown Denver late Tuesday morning. Over the next 30 days, those signatures will be counted by the office’s staff to determine their validity.
The initiative would slightly modify the Colorado Constitution to say “only a citizen of the United States” who is at least 18 years old can vote. It currently states “every citizen” who is at least 18 can vote.
Under current law, non-citizens cannot vote in Colorado elections. Supporters of Initiative 76 say their ballot initiative would ensure that remains the case, blocking any liberal cities from allowing undocumented immigrants to vote in Colorado elections.
“In my mind, this simply clears up some ambiguous language,” Neville said during a press conference late Tuesday morning, “and ensures we take the first steps to ensure we have election integrity in the state of Colorado.”
San Francisco allowed non-citizens to vote for the first time last year. In 2016, voters in the liberal California city passed Proposition N, allowing non-citizens to cast ballots in school board elections. Neville cited that example, along with what he says are efforts by activists in Douglas County and elsewhere to allow non-citizens to vote, as impetuses for his initiative.
Critics of the initiative see it as needless race-baiting and a possible back-door effort at voter suppression, since Colorado law already prohibits undocumented immigrants from voting. It’s part of a nationwide movement led by a group called Citizen Voters.
“Put bluntly, Initiative 76 is a conspiracy-minded propaganda piece meant to energize an anti-immigrant base for the 2020 election,” said Cristian Solano-Cordova, a spokesman for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.
“Initiative 76 seeks to make voting more difficult on a false premise,” Solano-Cordova added. “It’s not only a waste of money, but it’s unethical for this Florida-based organization, Citizen Voters, to fool Colorado voters into making false assumptions about non-citizens voting.”
In 2016, North Dakota voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative banning non-citizens from voting. Florida will vote on a similar ban next year.