Colorado 'Dirty Voters' Increase Likelihood of Voter Fraud

A Colorado Watchdog analysis found more than a third of Colorado’s registered voters are considered “inactive,” which increases the threat of potential voting fraud in one of the nation’s most important swing states. 

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told Watchdog “Colorado is among 12 states that have significant numbers of individuals on the rolls that ought not to be there.”

“In Colorado, a fifth of the election rolls are composed of voters who ought not to be on the list. When you have lists as dirty as the ones in Colorado, it provides opportunities for fraud,” Fitton said. “There is no doubt about it.”

Earl Glynn, a special a special projects coordinator and researcher at the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, conducted the analysis. He said of the state’s 3.4 million registered voters, 1.2 million are considered inactive.

“There is always the potential for voter fraud,” Glynn told Watchdog. “I like to use the word potential. If there is a name on the voter roll that could be borrowed by a corrupt official, that is an opportunity for fraud. When you can borrow a name on the list and it’s been there a long time, it will be very hard to prove anything one way or the other.”

According to Glynn, voters could search the names of inactive voters and show up as them to the polls to commit voter fraud since Colorado does not have Photo ID laws. 

Logan Churchwell, spokesman for True the Vote, said that 10 counties in Colorado have more than 100% of the eligible population registered to vote.

Churchwell said “federal law says every jurisdiction that maintains voter rolls has to put in place a reasonable effort to keep dead, felon and ineligible voters off the rolls.”

“We’re seeing instances where some counties had 130 percent voter registration, 113 percent voter registration and 108 percent voter registration,” Churchwell said. “Usually, whenever you see more than 105 percent, you’ve got a pretty bad problem in terms of maintaining your rolls. 

Churchwell also cited a Judicial Watch investigation that “found that the percentage of invalid voter registration forms in Colorado public assistance agencies was four times the national average.”

According to Glynn, “the number of inactive voters in Colorado is much higher than in many other states” because voters are placed on “inactive status” if they do not reply to mailed requests from election officials.