Video Appears to Reveal GOP Voter Registration Worker Screening Out Dems in Colorado

In recent months, I have done voter registration for three different organizations in Georgia. Since the Republican government of Georgia is actively trying to deny the vote to people who are more likely to vote Democratic, and since unregistered voters in this area are much more likely to vote Democratic, it is not surprising that the individuals doing the organizing are for Obama. We often choose places we think will have many potential Democratic voters. But none of us is paid. We are scrupulous about offering registration to everybody, and registering everybody who wants it. We don't ask people what party they are in. We are even required to avoid displaying anything, such as pins and t-shirts, that would indicate whom we ourselves favor. We give everybody information on how to check if they are registered.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9583

By Brad Friedman on 9/25/2012

Over the weekend, this disturbing video of a voter registration worker at a Safeway grocery story in El Paso County, Colorado went somewhat viral...

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The short video shows a young woman attempting to register voters outside the grocery store, but asking first: "I'm polling people. Would you vote for Romney or Obama?"

When the unidentified woman shooting the video tells the young lady she thought she was registering people to vote, the registration worker admits she is. The woman asks who she works for, and the young lady admits, "I'm actually trying to register voters for a particular party, because...we're out here in support of Romney, actually."

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As it turns out, the registration worker was not working for the El Paso County Clerk's office, according to responses sent to The BRAD BLOG by the CO Secretary of State's office as well as the El Paso County Clerk. Instead, she was a paid employee of the state Republican Committee, as confirmed by the local GOP Chairman. And, incredibly enough, both the Sec. of State and County Clerk, both Republicans, assert that what the registration worker is seen doing in the video, screening out potential voters based on who they might vote for, is absolutely legal in the state of Colorado...

"There is nothing in state law that would prevent it," Richard Coolidge, Communications Director for Sec. of State Scott Gessler (R) told us, after we'd asked if registration workers are allowed to ask potential registrants, before giving them the chance to register, whether or not they are supporters of one party or one candidate over another.

Coolidge says that what the worker is seen doing in the video is absolutely fine, so long as the screening happens before the registrant starts filling out of the registration form.

"Once the person starts filling out the application," he explained, the registration worker "is required to submit the form to the county clerk."

"We see voter registration drives on both sides of the aisle target specific demographics," Coolidge claimed via email. "But any registrations they receive, regardless of party affiliation, must be submitted timely or face strict penalties."

Colorado Springs NBC affiliate KOAA News 5 noticed the video as well over the weekend. They report that El Paso County Republican Chairman Eli Bremer confirmed the young lady was, indeed, working for them.

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He also added that "You don't have to offer a voter registration form to everybody."

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Le Lait says that, unlike Republicans, at least in her county, Democrats do not screen out voters, at least not in the same way, when signing up new registrants. "I know for a fact the campaign office is not going out and prescreening the people that are registering," she says. "They will set up a table with an Obama sign but they don't ask you who you're voting for before you register."

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the matter certainly appears to walk a precarious legal and ethical line that the GOP would, to quote Bremer, almost certainly "make political hay out of," had the situation been reversed and the video revealed either an ACORN worker or someone from the Democratic Party on video doing the very same thing.

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And, of course, there is Nathan Sproul, whose organization was hired by the GOP in 2004 and accused of shredding thousands of Democratic voter registrations in several states before, nonetheless, being hired again by the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008.