Records: Colorado Democrat’s Office ‘Focused on Damage Control’ After Urging 31K Foreign Nationals to Vote
After mistakenly sending mailers to more than 31,000 foreign nationals urging them to register to vote, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s (D) Office “focused on damage control,” according to an analysis of internal communication records between officials involved in the mishap.
As Breitbart News reported in October 2022, just weeks before the midterm elections, Griswold’s office admitted that it had mistakenly sent mailers to more than 31,000 foreign nationals across Colorado asking them to register to vote.
Internal communication records among Colorado election officials, obtained by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), reveal that Griswold’s office was heavily worried about public relations with local media and damage control after the mistake was discovered.
“Communication records obtained in PILF’s investigation portray a Secretary of State’s office more focused on damage control than answering questions posed by concerned county election officials,” a brief from PILF states.
Specifically, the records show that Griswold’s office set up a four-pronged damage control plan that included sending a second mailer to those 31,000 foreign nationals clarifying they are not eligible to vote and preventing the foreign nationals from using the voter registration portal.
The PILF brief notes that Griswold’s office refused to provide the names of the foreign nationals to whom the initial mailer was sent despite requests from local county election officials.
In one such instance, for example, Moffat County officials asked to see more information about the 54 foreigners who were sent the mailer in that county, but Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Beall denied the request citing, “potential legal issues.”
The PILF brief laid out possibilities as to why Griswold’s office refused to hand over such information about the foreign nationals sent the mailer:
No records reveal that Deputy Secretary of State Beall was ever forthcoming about the “potential legal issues” associated with his office offering voter registration materials to foreign citizens. One possibility is that some of the foreign citizens could have committed an election crime by registering to vote. It be would a federal crime for a foreign citizen to vote in the 2022 election. When the Secretary of State of Colorado did not disclose to county election officials the names of the foreigners offered voter registration materials by her office, she hid the ability of the public and law enforcement from ascertaining whether, indeed, foreigners did register to vote as a result of being urged to do so by the Colorado Secretary of State. [Emphasis added]
“Colorado shouldn’t be sending foreign nationals voter registration information,” PILF President J. Christian Adams said in a statement. When they do, the public should be able to see all of the records so we can hold election officials accountable.”
“Transparency in elections is essential,” he continued. “This circus right before a federal election shouldn’t happen. Knowing who is to blame and what went wrong is essential to prevent a repeat.”
Griswold won a second term last year against Republican Pam Anderson.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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