[Colorado-Talk] HB22-1204: a Bill Undermining Accessible Voting in Colorado

Curtis Chong chong.curtis at gmail.com
Tue Mar 15 13:00:42 UTC 2022


Greetings all:

 

I am pleased to tell you that HB22-1204 was not voted out of committee last night. During the five-hour hearing, this bill, the last one to be heard, took three hours due to the tremendous outpouring of opposition from a variety of individuals and groups.

 

Cordially,

 

Curtis Chong

 

 

From: Curtis Chong <chong.curtis at gmail.com> 
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2022 9:50 AM
To: 'NFB of Colorado Discussion List' <colorado-talk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Oppose HB22-1204: a Bill Undermining Accessible Voting in Colorado
Importance: High

 

Hello everyone:

 

Colorado has one of the most accessible voting systems in the United States, especially for blind voters and voters with print disabilities. Because of this, Colorado has been hailed as a national leader for accessible voting.

 

It has come to our attention that HB22-1204, a bill which threatens to undermine the tremendous success we have achieved in Colorado to make voting and elections more accessible to the blind and people with other disabilities, is to be brought before the House State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Committee at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, March 14. If passed, HB22-1204 would:

 

*	eliminate Colorado’s vote-by-mail system and require voters to cast their ballots in person at the voters' precinct polling place on election day and
*	eliminate the electronic ballot delivery and electronic ballot return systems which have made vote-by-mail in Colorado accessible to the blind and print-disabled.

 

Please communicate opposition to HB22-1204. There are those who would say that this bill is already doomed to be defeated on party lines. While this may be true, advocates for accessible voting do need to show their opposition to efforts designed to curtail equal access to the voting process.

 

Here is a draft email which you, your colleagues, friends, and family members  can send to the House State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Committee.

 


Draft Email


 

To the House State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Committee:

 

please vote “NO” on HB22-1204! 

 

When SB19-202 and SB21-188 were signed into law, Colorado established itself as a national leader in voting accessibility for people with disabilities, including the blind or print-disabled. If HB22-1204 becomes law, voting accessibility for the blind and people with other disabilities would be destroyed, and the community would be denied the ability to mark ballots with complete independence and privacy. Even worse, people who cannot drive would be forced to travel to voter polling service centers, not to mention having to use supposedly accessible but inferior voting systems with which they are neither proficient nor confident.

 

Again, please vote no on HB22-1204.

 

 


Committee Names and Email Addresses


 

Here are the names and email addresses for the House State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Committee

 

Representative Chris Kennedy (Chair)
chris.kennedy.house at state.co.us

Representative Steven Woodrow (Vice Chair)
steven.woodrow.house at state.co.us

Representative Judy Amabile
judy.amabile.house at state.co.us

Representative Jennifer Bacon
jennifer.bacon.house at state.co.us

Representative Tracey Bernett
tracey.bernett.house at state.co.us

Representative Andrew Boesenecker
andrew.boesenecker.house at state.co.us

Representative Alex Valdez
alex.valdez.house at state.co.us

Representative Rod Bockenfeld
rod.bockenfeld.house at state.co.us

Representative Mary Bradfield
mary.bradfield.house at state.co.us

Representative Patrick Neville
patrick.neville.house at state.co.us

Representative Dan Woog
Dan.Woog.house at state.co.us

 


Committee Hearing


 

HB22-1204 will come before the House State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs Committee on Monday, March 14. The committee hearing will start at 1:30 PM in the Old State Library (Room 271 on the second floor of the Capitol). Interested persons can attend the hearing in person or remotely <https://leg.colorado.gov/content/state-civic-military-veterans-affairs-4> . Whether you want to testify in writing, remotely, or in person, you need to visit the website https://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2021A/commsumm.nsf/signIn.xsp to get yourself on the list of people who want to testify.

 

 

 

Let’s put HB22-1204 where it belongs, in the list of defeated bills.☺

 

Best,

 

Curtis Chong, Voting Rights Coordinator

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/colorado-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20220315/cf6e9d81/attachment.html>


More information about the Colorado-Talk mailing list