Responding to recent attacks on Colorado’s vote-by-mail system and the continued use of falsehoods on elections to justify anti-voting legislation across the country, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS), released the following statement:
“The Democratic Association of Secretaries of State joins voting rights advocates around the country in welcoming the decision of the MLB to move the All-Star Game to Denver, CO. And as the chief election officer in the state, I also want to set the record straight on the current misinformation campaign targeting Colorado and MLB.
After MLB moved the game, we have seen out-of-state Republican elected officials spread misinformation about Colorado’s election systems. The truth is that Colorado is the gold-standard of accessible and secure elections in this country, with one of the highest voter turnout rates through vote-by-mail for all, hundreds of drop boxes that are monitored and accessible around the clock, early voting, in-person voting centers, and automatic voter registration.
These same partisan elected officials who have been lying about our country’s elections for years and especially during the 2020 cycle, are now doing so in an effort to advance their agenda of tilting elections in their favor through voter suppression. This is part of a broader playbook aimed at allowing politicians to pick their voters, instead of the other way around. The bills recently passed in both Georgia and Texas constitute a new form of Jim Crow, and we are now seeing more than 360 anti-voter bills being considered nationally.
Access to voting shouldn’t be dependent on your zip code, political party or what state you live in. States should offer accessible and secure elections, like Colorado. And Congress must pass HR 1, the For the People Act, to protect the right to vote and strengthen our democracy so all eligible voters can make our voices heard and elect a government by and for the people.”