Colo. Officials Not Concerned About ‘Election Protection Squad’

A sign leads voters to a polling place Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, in Mobile, Ala. Voters went to the polls as Bradley Byrne and Dean Young met in a runoff for the Republican nomination in Alabama's First Congressional Di... A sign leads voters to a polling place Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, in Mobile, Ala. Voters went to the polls as Bradley Byrne and Dean Young met in a runoff for the Republican nomination in Alabama's First Congressional District. (AP Photo/AL.com, Mike Brantley) MAGS OUT MORE LESS
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With a new law that requires Colorado to mail ballots to all registered voters and allows same-day voter registration, the state may see an uptick in poll watchers on Nov. 4.

The Denver Post reported that conservatives have organized the Election Protection Squad, a group of poll watchers concerned about voter fraud.

According to the Denver Post, people affiliated with conservative radio station 560-AM KLZ sent out an appeal for volunteers to take turns watching mail-in ballot drop-off stations.

The appeal was circulated by email and asked people to take a “stand for liberty.”

“Some of you night owls can take a shift with your video camera after midnight. Others can watch during the daytime,” the email reads, according to the Denver Post. “But THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW.”

Republican state Senate candidate Laura Woods also sent the email to her supporters.

The Denver Post asked multiple people listed as contacts for the Election Protection Squad for a comment. One of the contacts, Kris Cook, host of KLZ’s Grassroots Radio Colorado, told the Post that “this is a private effort and we are not granting interviews.”

Democratic state Rep. Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, one of the sponsors of the new voting bill, told the Denver Post that he thinks that the new poll watching effort could be a response to the new legislation.

“I feel people are under the mistaken impression that we really have a lot of voter fraud going on and that somehow this election will encourage voter fraud,” Hullinghorst said. “I don’t understand what they think they’re going to find at the drop-off spots.”

Election officials are aware of the group, but are not concerned that they will do anything illegal.

Rich Coolidge, a spokesman for the Colorado Secretary of State, told TPM that the state allows poll watchers on election night. He had not specifically heard of the Election Protection Squad before the Denver Post report, but he said that candidates and groups have sent poll watchers to observe elections for the past couple of years.

El Paso County Clerk & Recorder Wayne Williams, who is also a Republican candidate for Colorado secretary of state, told the Denver Post that poll watchers may be looking out for people dropping off more than one ballot. He didn’t seem surprised that people were getting involved.

“And general elections are partisan races, so it’s not surprising that the activists would get involved,” he told the Denver Post.

But Williams also noted that poll watching was unnecessary since the drop-off locations in El Paso county are under video surveillance.

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