Now that we’ve got your attention, read the article!
Yesterday in our “Legislative Mini Wrap-up” we chronicled a number of things (well, a short list – about 1% of the bad stuff) that the extreme far-lefties (moderate Democrats are extinct) and a few Republicans did to help destroy the State of Colorado during this year’s legislative session.
For those of you that know a thing about civics, checks and balances, and believe the system works – sorry to tell you we won’t see any vetoes from our Boulder Based Governor and the Supreme Court…Well…maybe they may weigh in on the Red Flag bill in the future.
The message that Colorado citizens should get from not only this legislative session but the general direction Colorado is taking, is that ELECTIONS MATTER. At least they kinda sorta do, but now that the Democrats are in complete power (with some Republicans supporting their destructive agenda), they’re trying to stack the deck in their favor when it comes to election law.
We touched on this issue yesterday, but it was buried at the end – so for those of you that didn’t take your ADHD meds yesterday and didn’t read the whole article this is what we said:
You know how a lot of dictators stay in power in countries like Venezuela? They suppress the voice and vote of the people. Of course you’ve heard of the quote often attributed to Joseph Stalin (the guy who killed a few million of his own citizens), “It’s not the people who vote that count. It’s the people who count the votes”.
Mixed with a little Soviet Russian method of controlling who can speak, you get a synopsis of the onslaught of changes to election law this session.
We will be covering this a bit more in-depth, in the next few weeks – but we feel comfortable claiming the Democrats are trying to lock in their stranglehold on the Legislature and State-wide offices.
We’re going to go a little more in-depth today, but not much…because WE didn’t take our ADHD medicine today…I mean because we read an article that shorter articles are more likely to be read to the end.
National Popular Vote
We expect you to do your homework and be a good citizen, so here is the bill link to SB 19-042. We’ve also authored a few articles on this, here, here, and here. Bottom line is this is bad, and it pretty much takes away Colorado’s influence in the upcoming Presidential Election. Our power was given to New York and California, and we know how they vote. This is really a ploy to help whatever lefties get nominated on the Democratic ticket get elected. Have any of them denounced Socialism yet?
Automatic Voter Registration
SB 19-235 in a nutshell (Unfortunately the lefties escaped their nutshell this session), pushes voter registration on anyone who gets a drivers license, pays or paid taxes. Everyone gets the “opportunity” to register, in a nice little package that has a postage paid (by we the taxpayer) postcard enclosed. It also allows minors who pre-register to be automatically registered when they turn 18.
There’s some other stuff in there, but here’s what you need to know – the Democrats feel that if more people are registered, more people will vote for Democrats. This is based on the idea of the “low information voter”. The thought is that if you haven’t registered to vote, then you only pay cursory attention to politics, and get your info briefly from the left-leaning (often times it’s a real hard lean) “Main Stream Media” sources, so Dems will have a monopoly on these voters.
The other issue here is that Democrats in Colorado seem to have vast resources, namely money for voter contact. So the already cash-strapped Republican candidates will not be able to compete to get these votes.
This is all a piece of the puzzle, to allow Democrats to continue their electoral success and lock down Colorado. Stacking the deck is a method used by just about every totalitarian regime in history.
Other Bad Election Bills
Some other bad bills that passed without fanfare were SB 19-232, that allows the Secretary of State to obtain substantially more information than they were entitled to, and although it has some protections on disclosure to the public, it’s ripe for abuse. Think, demonizing Republican Committees and donors here. GOP donors are more likely to be spooked and not contribute – this will suppress speech.
HB 19-1318 is one that is under the guise of protecting the 1st Amendment. I mean it says so in the subheading of the bill, so it must be true! This bill redefines “coordination” between candidates and committees, and also usurps privacy laws when it comes to non-profits. The Dems have large revenue streams funding campaigns. Republicans have had to be a little more creative. This is a direct attack on how Republicans have become a bit more competitive on the finance side. Don’t forget, free speech isn’t just exercised by writing and speaking, but it can also be in the form of a campaign contribution. So this is a partisan attack on free speech.
Finally, there is SB 19-068, that makes an attempt at redefining “electioneering communications”. This bill wants the government to have more filing requirements for citizens that spend small amounts in elections. Basically, making it onerous for citizens on small issues to exercise their free speech. It also expands the time for the disclosure of “electioneering communications” from the current 60 days before the general election, to all the way back to the Primary. Again, this raises compliance costs and suppresses free speech.
Conclusion
Election law isn’t sexy and it’s very complicated. That’s why little beyond the National Popular Vote bill got any attention. But as a whole (the Death by a Thousand Cuts philosophy) these bills are designed to lock the current regime in power. You know like places like Venezuela, and other totalitarian regimes through history. This is direct opposition to what our Founding Fathers believed we needed to be free men and women. Elections matter and the Democrats are now trying to lock-in their power.
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You let out 1278. For shame as this is one nasty bill especially if you want to run for any office as a U or minor party. This bill has a petition clause on it too so it can be challenged but no one will step up to run the petition.