DENVER | Changes to Colorado election rules allowing same-day voter registration and mailing ballots to all registered voters will get their first hearing in a state House committee on Monday in what’s expected to spark partisan wrangling.
The Democrat-sponsored bill would also eliminate a category of voters considered inactive because they failed to vote in the most recent election, a designation that restricts their ability to get ballots by mail.
The bill will get testimony and a possible first vote in a Democrat-controlled House committee, giving the proposal good likelihood of initial passage. The full House would still need to consider it.
Republicans have criticized Democrats who wrote the bill, saying GOP leaders were left out of the process. Republicans also argue the changes are meant to benefit Democrats.
Democrats counter that the goal is to increase voter participation, regardless of party.
Under the bill, every registered voter in Colorado would get a ballot in the mail. They could vote by mail, but voters would still have the option to do it in person.
Oregon and Washington mail ballots to every eligible voter, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
About 74 percent of Colorado voters cast a mail ballot in November, according to a letter to lawmakers from the state’s bipartisan County Clerks Association, which supports the proposed election changes. In the letter late last year, clerks called that figure “a clear mandate from the electorate.”
The letter also said the label of inactive voters should be addressed.
Clerks also wanted to allow more time for people to register to vote and clear up confusion about different deadlines, but they did not specifically call for same-day voter registration.
More than a dozen states have considered bills this year to allow same-day voter registration, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School.