Colorado Democrats introduce House resolution calling on federal government to protect voter rights
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Democrats in the Colorado House Chamber introduced a new resolution on Friday to urge the federal government to pass legislation aimed at protecting the rights of voters.
The two primary sponsors of the House resolution include Kerry Tipper, a Democrat from Jefferson County, and Tony Exum, a Democrat from El Paso County.
The House Resolution’s three aims include the following:
- Reassert the validity of the 2020 presidential election results as legitimate and verified;
- Offer Colorado's premier electoral system as a model for states across the country to adopt in order to increase voter participation while ensuring electoral integrity; and
- Call on the United States Congress, and specifically members of the United States Senate, to pass comprehensive voting rights legislation to protect the fundamental right to vote, which has been the cornerstone of our democracy since the founding of our republic.
The United States Senate is currently considering federal elections reform and updates to the voting rights act passed in the 1960s. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act would permit the federal government to oversee state voting laws in order to prevent discrimination.
Republicans view the proposed piece of legislation as federal overreach. Democrats say the bill is necessary in response to recent voting legislation passed in Republican-led states.
The resolution says 19 states passed 34 laws restricting access to voting, including Georgia's Senate Bill 202 and Texas' Senate Bill No. 1, both of which made it more difficult for voters to exercise their fundamental right to vote.
The House Resolution states Colorado’s electoral system, with its mail-in ballot system, ought to serve "as an example to the rest of the nation."
