A bill targeting those that register to vote despite not being U.S. citizens presented by Secretary of State Scott Gessler has failed to make it through the state Legislature.
Monday, HB 1252 was struck down by Sen. Rollie Heath in the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee, but Gessler told the Colorado Independent that he isn’t finished with the idea yet.
Prior to the committee meeting, Gessler told committee members that is the bill should fail, he would likely give district attorneys or the attorney generals office with information he claimed would allow them to prosecute anyone suspected of having illegally registering to vote.
Though he stated that he would have simply preferred the bill to pass, he said the decision to move forward with the previously mentioned information is still be considered.
“You have to look at the tools that are available,” Gessler said.
Members of the media have repeatedly asked the Secretary of State to show proof of just one vote that has been cast in Colorado by an a non-citizen, and he has yet to do so. Instead, he has state that his office has research to back up his claims. However, the methodology of that research has been seriously questioned, by those like Sen. Heath, who called the bill unnecessary.
“Why is this something other than a witch hunt?” Heath asked.
Gessler claimed the bill was not a witch hunt, and was not intended to be looked at as prosecutorial. He said he was just trying to weed out those who are not legally allowed to vote, and claimed he had no intention of pressing charges against anyone.
