Students rock the early vote

Led by marchers carrying a Barack Obama banner and chanting, "Fired up, ready to vote!," hundreds of Colorado College students marched from the campus Monday to cast ballots on the first day of early voting at the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder's Office in Centennial Hall.

The march was organized by Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., as part of a weeklong tour of the state to encourage early voting, although one group that took part, Springs Action Alliance, issued a statement Monday characterizing it as a protest of local election officials' efforts to discourage students from voting in the Nov. 4 election.

Early voting got under way amid continuing charges nationwide that voter registration is rife with fraud and that radical liberal and conservative groups are trying to steal the election.

El Paso County's top election official, Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink, has denied trying to keep anyone from voting, but the Republican came under fire for sending directives warning of possible consequences if a student registered to vote in Colorado and is claimed as a dependent on a tax return in another state or fails to register his or her vehicle in Colorado.

Balink later withdrew the directive and apologized for misinterpreting state law, then reissued guidelines that sought to clarify the issue, saying registering to vote could jeopardize an out-of-state student's status as a dependent on their parents' tax return, not their eligibility to vote in Colorado.

Balink has said he simply wants to provide citizens with as much information as possible and that no CC student has been turned away from registering. But others saw it as a partisan official's attempt to intimidate student votes considered likely to support Democratic presidential candidate Obama.

Those suspicions energized some who took part in Monday's march.

Ben, a student from New York City who declined to give his last name, said the march demonstrated "the county clerk's office hasn't screwed us over."

"We're all voting together to make sure our voices are heard," said Micki Dunnavant of Texas.

"It's just to get people excited about voting early, particularly for Obama," said Abigail Cary, of Massachusetts.

Arriving at Centennial Hall, the students jammed the lobby. A student bluegrass band added a party air to the noisy waiting line.

Brian Johnson of Portland, Ore., said he hoped the mass vote showed that young people are a force to be reckoned with. "It makes a statement against saying the youth vote never really comes in," he said. "We're here. We're voting."

None of the CC students interviewed Monday reported problems registering to vote.

Among the allegations that have swirled as the campaign enters its final weeks are charges that voters were illegally purged from the rolls.

Neither is true, said Richard Coolidge, spokesman for the Colorado Secretary of State's Office.

Coolidge said the state purged about 2,400 voters with duplicate registrations, which the state Attorney General's Office has said is lawful because it wasn't a systematic purge, which is barred 90 days before a general election.

Of those about 2,400, Coolidge said, 598 were Republicans, 860 Democrats, and 960 were unaffiliated.

Roughly 22,000 Colorado residents also didn't fill out the registration form completely and some have charged that they won't be allowed to vote.

But Coolidge said county clerks will try to contact all of them so that the registration form can be completed and they can be allowed to vote.

He said voters can be confident the election is being conducted properly.

"The procedures that have been put in place have been met as laid out by the Legislature, secretary of state and the county clerks' offices, so there are contingency plans, safety nets and good people behind the counter who are committed to accurate and secure elections," he said.

Claims that some registration drives have not been impartial, seeking instead to pad the voter rolls with more Democrats or Republicans, is borne out by figures from the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder's Office.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a liberal-leaning group called ACORN, signed up 253 Democrats in El Paso County and only 61 Republicans, Balink's office said.

The Colorado Republican Party's drive signed up 607 new Republican voters and 188 Democrats.

Josh Dunn, assistant professor of political science at UCCS, said there's nothing wrong with being skeptical as Americans begin going to the polls.

"Democracies depend on legitimate elections," he said. "You should always be concerned about it. Whether or not these prove to be significant problems, we don't know yet. Whether it undermines the election, we just don't know. In a way you hope for an election that's not close."

Election officials expect about 20,000 of the roughly 370,000 people registered to vote during early voting. About 160,000 will cast ballots by mail, while another 110,000 will vote on Election Day, election officials predict.

No long delays were reported at the county's three early voting centers, where 1,548 people cast ballots as of 4 p.m. Monday.

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Contact the writer: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazette.com


EARLY VOTING

Early voting started Monday and continues through Oct. 31 except for Sunday.

Election officials urge voters to be prepared for a lengthy ballot, which could take up to 30 minutes to complete because of the large number of issues.

Voting locations:

• Centennial Hall, 200 S. Cascade, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Chapel Hills Mall, Suite 179, below the food court, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Citadel Mall, Suite 3124, near JC Penney, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Registered voters may request a mail ballot for the Nov. 4 election or on a permanent basis. Applications must be received by Oct. 28.

Voters have until 5 p.m. Oct. 31 to complete the application and pick up a mail ballot in person at the Centennial Hall election office.

Mail ballots must be received at the clerk's office no later than 7 p.m. on election Day.

Polling place voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For polling places: http://car.elpasoco.com/Election then link to "2008 Elections" and "2008 Polling Places." Voters also may call the Election Department at 575-VOTE.

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