Dear Local Government Official, Candidate, or Voter, Should people be allowed to vote on local races and taxes who have not lived in your town, school district, library district, or fire district even a full day? Should mail ballots require no signature verification and be accepted on the honor system? Some Colorado legislators and lobbyists think so! Their efforts must be defeated. The just-introduced 133-page bill rips the very concept of local control from the hands of local citizens. Your leadership is required to defeat this terrible public policy shift. For example: 1. This bill would allow people who have never lived in your jurisdiction to vote in your local elections, taking a page from gypsy voting in state elections last year. 2. The bill exacerbates problems caused by last years election bill: unverifiable election results, excessive cost, lawsuits, loss of voter confidence. (See Denver Posts review of Broomfields fumbled election.) New law is essential to repair the reckless, expensive damage from 2013s election bill, HB13-1303. But the answer is NOT House Bill 14-1164, introduced January 21 and poised for rapid fire approval through the General Assembly. Yet HB14-1164, like its mother bill, HB13-1303, creates an unworkable election code for local elections. This Son of 1303 bill requires critical and painstaking analysis by officials and experts that HB13-1303 escaped. Your leadership is required to protect election integrity and security in your local election. Actions Required- Contact your Senators and Representatives. Insist on deliberative hearings. Last year, bill sponsors (Giron, Pabon, and Hullinghorst) forced rapid fire passage of HB13-1303, refused to allow necessary time for hearings, and discouraged public and expert comment. The Colorado Municipal League and the Small District Association sat on the sidelines, claiming no local impacts. Dont allow a rushed uninformed process again this year. Forward this email to others. Ensure that your mayor, school board, hospital board, fire district board, and other special district boards know that their elections are at risk and HB14-1164 must be defeated or overhauled. Share this with officials, candidates, and voters in your neighboring jurisdictions. Dont rely on lobbyists. The bill has the backing of the CML and SDA. But its unlikely that local elected officials or grassroots citizens actually support such reckless public policy, created for bureaucratic convenience. Local candidates beware! This bill adds considerable campaign time, expense, and complexity for candidates. Testify! Your testimony at the Capitol in favor of local control, election security, and an understandable election code will be required perhaps as early as next week. Sponsors may attempt to pass the bill before local government officials and their constituents can organize to challenge this ill-conceived idea. Demand a real debate. Once we analyze and absorb this tangled complex bill and its practical impacts, we want to debate sponsors/supporters. Demand that they engage this year. Reject the trust us assurances of last year and HB1303. Understand the bill. We dont understand it yet! It is highly complex, poorly drafted legislation, with many unintended by-products and internal conflicts due to drafting errors. Be certain that you understand the risks to your local voters. Unless you are an election law expert, ask for your attorneys input. Last April, CML and SDA told members that HB13-1303 did not impact local elections, despite Citizen Centers warnings to the contrary. Now there is a 133-page bill to fix the problems that HB13-1303 needlessly caused. We believe that this Son of 1303 (HB14-1164) recklessly makes a bad situation worse. We will be distributing further facts over the next few days, although HB14-1164 will take many days to thoroughly review. Do your own independent review. Local charters, needs, and practices vary. Know how HB14-1164 would impact YOUR LOCAL VOTERS. Stay tuned. We will issue frequent updates as we analyze this bill, including its considerable fiscal impacts. We encourage other organizations to do the same. Add your name to our HB14-1164 Alert List. Click below. Thank you for your dedication to Colorados local government. Marilyn Marks Citizen Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization focused on open government and election quality.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 03:30:03 +0000
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