Libertarian Party of Colorado

Denver, CO May 31, 2012—The Libertarian Party of Colorado has called upon Governor John Hickenlooper to veto HB12-1036, that further threatens the state’s already vulnerable electoral processes. The Libertarians join public policy organizations such as Common Cause, the ACLU, Colorado Ethics Watch, and Citizen Center, as well as the Denver Post, Boulder Daily Camera and many diverse grassroots groups and voters in requesting that the governor prevent the flawed bill from becoming law.
“House Bill 12-1036 greatly restricts the rights of citizens, the press, and candidates – particularly those who are running as unaffiliated or do not have the backing of large party machinery – to oversee and verify the people’s elections,” says LP State Chair Jeff Orrok. “The most fundamental principle of our democracy is that we the people – not the government – should control and oversee our elections. A government is legitimate only with the assent of the governed. When government strips away the rights of the voters to verify their elections, the already vulnerable system will be subject to abuse by insiders.”
The bill has been repeatedly criticized by many across the entire political spectrum for creating a special class of insiders identified as ‘interested parties’ who will be given full access that the public will rarely, if ever achieve. Well-funded candidates and parties seeking to verify the election need only pay for an expensive recount for this full access. Shut out of such a recount, the average candidate, or newspaper or citizen watchdog group may have to wait months to access only partial records, although insider ‘interested parties’ are granted immediate and complete record access.
Orrok states that there are many troubling aspects of HB12-1036, including the last-minute passage of the bill without a meaningful opportunity for a public hearing in the House, just before it was merged with an unrelated bill to force its eleventh hour legislative approval without debate.
The Libertarian Party of Colorado urges its members and all citizens to personally write to the governor to ask for a veto though his website http://www.colorado.gov/govhdir/requests/opinion-leg.html