Suppressing the College Vote
Sep 25th, 2008 by nick
My local El Paso County Clerk and Recorder, Bob Balink, evidently told Colorado College in March that students could not register to vote in Colorado if their parents claimed them as dependents in another state. The Clerk and Recorder’s office has admitted now that the information was wrong. Anyone who’s lived in Colorado for 30 days can register to vote regardless of their dependent status. Balink’s office claims it was merely an honest misinterpretation of the state law. Forgive me if I’m just a tiny bit skeptical about that.
This is the same Bob Balink who proudly attended the Republican National Convention earlier this month and wrote an odd but glowing ode to Republicans in the local paper. The same Bob Balink who allows only Fox News to be broadcast in all his offices. The same Bob Balink who forced a woman to leave a voting location because she was wearing a pin saying, “Grandmothers for Peace.” The same Bob Balink who wants to require proof of citizenship for registering to vote. So I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this latest problem is part of a larger pattern. I think Mr. Balink knows as well as the rest of us that college students tend to vote Democratic, just as he knows that the people most likely to be discouraged by the proof of citizenship requirement tend to vote Democratic. I won’t go so far as to say that he’s intentionally suppressing the Democratic vote, but his actions certainly seem to have that effect.
Why is this man still in office and not in jail for fraud??