Colorado’s Secretary of State’s office has refused to provide county election officials with the names of foreign nationals who received voter registration information in October, according to a report by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF).
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Beall declined to give the names of 54 foreign nationals in Moffat County who were sent voter registration postcards.
A spokesperson for Beall said there were “potential legal issues” that needed to be addressed before such lists could be shared, and did not provide a timeline for when these issues might be resolved.
County officials are unable to determine if ineligible residents voted illegally in the 2022 midterms due to the Secretary of State’s office refusing to cooperate.
The faulty mailer was the result of Colorado’s membership in the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which creates voter outreach lists using data from voter files, DMV records, and other state agencies, The Federalist reports.
In Colorado, foreign citizens are able to obtain driver’s licenses.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office attempted to address the error by sending out a second round of postcards and implementing a mechanism to prevent the 31,093 recipients from using the online voter registration portal.
PILF is suing the Colorado Secretary of State’s office for failing to make public its voter list maintenance records with ERIC.
“Colorado shouldn’t be sending foreign nationals voter registration information,” a statement from PILF President J. Christian Adams said.
“When they do, the public should be able to see all of the records so we can hold election officials accountable. Transparency in elections is essential. This circus right before a federal election shouldn’t happen. Knowing who is to blame and what went wrong is essential to prevent a repeat.”
