Partisan fingers point on voter-fraud issue

Davidson threatens inquiry; Salazar says he's investigating

By Peggy Lowe, Rocky Mountain News
October 14, 2004

Colorado Secretary of State Donetta Davidson said Wednesday that she has been left "out of the loop" on voter fraud by the attorney general - and she will call for a grand jury if abuses aren't prosecuted.

During a day of partisan finger-pointing, Gov. Bill Owens also stepped into the fray, calling on Davidson, a fellow Republican, county clerks and "the attorney general himself" to "act decisively and root out fraud and prosecute it to the fullest extent of the law."

 
Both Attorney General Ken Salazar, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, and the Colorado campaign for Sen. John Kerry reacted quickly to the Republicans.

Salazar's office said it's already doing exactly as the governor suggested: fully investigating and prosecuting allegations of voter wrongdoing.

But Salazar's people expressed confusion at Davidson's complaint about being left out of the loop.

"What part of 'out of the loop' is there?" asked Ken Lane, a Salazar spokesman. "We're actively handling every case Secretary of State Davidson has given us. There's a mystery here to what her complaint is."

Democrats called Davidson and Owens' statements "overt voter intimidation" aimed at keeping people away from the polls.

Davidson is concerned about potential voter-fraud problems created mainly by huge registration drives. About 1,500 applications have been deemed questionable - 500 from Arapahoe County alone.

Davidson called an emergency meeting of county clerks on Monday, then remained silent Tuesday, refusing to meet with reporters.

But a decidedly determined Davidson faced the press Wednesday, saying she turned over several suspicious voter registrations to Salazar's office in April, and Salazar's office has charged just one person so far.

"I'm putting myself back into the loop," Davidson said, adding that she will ask for a grand jury investigation if the attorney general or any district attorney fails to prosecute cases of wrongdoing.

"I've been left out of the loop, but I'm the one who has been held responsible for this issue," she said. "I am pulling out all stops."

Salazar's office announced in August that an Aurora man, John MaCarthy, 27, was accused of forging 48 voter-registration applications in April. MaCarthy faces four felony counts of fraud and a misdemeanor count of procuring false registration.

"The reason only one person has been charged is because that's what the evidence shows," Lane said. "His hearing is October 25. This was announced back on August 20. This is old news."

Another case of potential voter fraud that Davidson handed over to the attorney general two weeks ago is still being investigated, said Don Quick, a chief deputy attorney general. It takes a great deal of time to investigate, check handwriting samples and get the necessary documents during the county clerks' busiest time, he said.

A large part of the registration problems has stemmed from gatherers being paid, Quick said. That's not illegal - the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998 threw out a Colorado law that barred the practice of paid circulators, he said.

But when a young person is offered financial incentives to get a larger number of registrations, there's bound to be problems, Quick said. He believes county clerks are catching those problems, and the registration rolls will be kept mostly clean.

Quick suggested creating stronger penalties in the law for false registrations, pushing it to felony status.

Davidson also announced a meeting, set for Sunday, to discuss a "timely investigation" into questionable registrations with representatives of the Attorney General's Office, district attorneys, those running for district attorney, and metro-area county clerks.

And Davidson issued a stern warning for those who might be operating the large registration drives outside the law, to those signing up to register multiple times, or paying people to defraud the system:

"I have a message for those that finance direct participation in abuse - I'm saying abuse," she said. "They could be out there legally doing it and there's no problem. If there is abuse in their process, we're going after them."

But that kind of message further alienates voters, Democrats charged after Davidson's news conference.

"This is the classic move by Republican tacticians: create an environment of fear that discourages voters from showing up on Election Day, for this is the only way they know how to win," said Sue Casey, Kerry-Edwards 2004 Colorado state director.

Casey said the tactic had worked for Republicans in Florida in 2000.

"And now that they see Colorado slipping out of their previously firm grasp, they are bringing this tired tactic to the Centennial State."

Asked by a reporter if Colorado could be the next Florida this year, with voting irregularities and delayed results, Davidson offered a quick "no," blaming such speculation on the close race for president and U.S. Senate.

"I think the hype of this election has been pushed up because it's so close," she said.

Registration aggravation

Some potential voter registration frauds in four counties, according to the secretary of state's office:

ADAMS COUNTY

• Signatures that do not match signatures on file

• Invalid addresses

ARAPAHOE COUNTY

• Voters complained they didn't have a complete form

• Applications with incorrect birth dates

• Incorrect Social Security numbers

• Signatures that do not match signatures on file

• Affiliations changed

• Voter was deceased

• Numerous applications appear to have been signed by the same person

DENVER COUNTY

• Signatures that do not match signatures on file

• Invalid addresses

• Suspicious party affiliation, written in different handwriting than applicant's

• Invalid driver's license numbers

• Social Security numbers that do not match

JEFFERSON COUNTY

• Numerous applications from the same person with different signatures

• Invalid addresses