Denver Post

NO: It's rife with pitfalls
By Robert J. Corry Jr.

Sunday, September 15, 2002 - Former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley once advised supporters to "Vote early and vote often." This Chicago tradition may soon enter Colorado politics.

While Amendment 30 may sound attractive at first, it could severely damage our electoral system. Under this scheme, if you play by the rules, your vote will be worth less. In the wake of the controversial 2000 election, complete with its "dangling chads" in Florida and voting irregularities nationwide, we should strengthen protections against voting fraud, not weaken them.

Amendment 30 would allow individuals to show up at any polling place on election day without registering in advance, eliminating the time-tested 30-day window required by law. If "show-up" voting passes, individuals could vote first by mail-in ballot before the election, and subsequently multiple times on election day. The proposal makes no provision for separating the "show-up" votes from the verifiable ones, even if proven fraud is later found to have occurred. In such a case, a new election would be the only solution, and fraud could occur once again. We can't afford that expense and delay.

Only six other states have adopted this controversial procedure. Advocates contend that in these states, including Wisconsin, there has been "virtually no voter registration fraud." This assertion couldn't be further from the truth. On Election Day 2000 in Milwaukee, a Marquette Tribune survey of 1,000 college students found that 174 students voted more than once. In another case, Constance Milstein, a wealthy New York political donor, admitted she flew into Milwaukee days before the election to entice homeless individuals to "show up" and vote by bribing them with cigarettes. The presidential contest in Wisconsin was decided by about 5,000 votes. In response, Wisconsin has discussed returning to a more traditional process. Oregon wisely dumped "show-up" voting in 1986 after a religious cult bragged it would concentrate its members there to vote and install its own candidates. Such a chilling strategy would be perfectly legal in Colorado if this pernicious initiative becomes law.

Generally, Coloradans are practical: if something isn't broken, we don't fix it. Our voter turnout is higher than most states. Colorado's electorate is motivated, educated and committed. Voting here is convenient already; absentee and mail-in ballots are easy to obtain, and people can register at any driver's license office, county clerk office, online, by mail and even at some grocery stores' branch registration centers.

Under Amendment 30, college students with fake IDs could show up at dozens of polling places by the end of election day. Campaign hacks could mail in their ballots and vote again on election day, multiple times. We should reject this latest attempt to cheapen our votes and devalue our system.

Robert J. Corry Jr. of Boulder is a lawyer representing the opponents of Amendment 30. He is former counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, where he handled civil-rights and voting-rights issues. He can be reached at corry@law.com .