Election reform plan headed for full Senate

By Mark P. Couch
Denver Post Staff Writer   23 March 2005

A package of election reforms that would make it easier to vote won approval of a Senate committee Tuesday.

The bill - sponsored by a political odd couple, Sens. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, and Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield - overhauls several parts of the state's election law.

Gordon said Senate Bill 198 is designed to address issues raised during the 2004 elections.

"I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I don't believe John Kerry won the election," Gordon quipped.

Mitchell said the bill is an effort to make citizens feel confident of election results.

"We're asking citizens to trust the results that come out of a black box," Mitchell said.

The bill's key provisions include

Voter identification. The bill would make student IDs acceptable for going to the polls.

Provisional ballots. Voters who go to the wrong precinct could still cast votes that count in all races in which the voter is eligible to vote.

Paper trail. Sets deadlines - 2008 in most cases - for counties to buy electronic voting equipment that can provide a voter-verified paper trail.

Early voting. Counties could allow early voting on Saturdays during the early-voting period. Counties could also open early-voting sites at noon so they could stay open until 9 p.m.

Adams County Clerk Carol Snyder said most county clerks, the local officials who oversee elections, oppose the bill because it would be too expensive to buy the new machinery and would put "onerous" provisions on them.

More than a dozen people testified for more than 2 1/2 hours before the Senate Local Government Committee. Most said they were worried that electronic voting machines don't provide a paper trail.

The bill, approved 5-2, now heads to the full Senate for its review. Secretary of State Donetta Davidson plans to announce her version of an election-reform bill on Thursday.