October, 30 2008, 02:52pm EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Tim Bradley, Brennan Center for Justice, 646-452-5637 or 314-440-9936
Sabrina Williams Advancement Project, 202-728-9557 or 305-904-3960
Jenny Flanagan, Colorado Common Cause, 303-292-2163 or 303-842-1515
Purged Colorado Voters Win Unprecedented Protections to Ensure Votes Are Counted
DENVER
An agreement reached late yesterday before a federal judge in
Colorado ensures that tens of thousands of Colorado voters illegally
purged from the registration lists will have their votes counted. The
decision was hailed by voting rights and good-government groups in
Colorado and nationwide as a victory for voters and a clear message to
election officials must take the necessary steps to make sure that
ballots cast by eligible voters must be counted.
"This is a major victory for voters. All eligible Colorado voters
who followed the rules should have confidence that on November 4th they
will be able to vote and their vote will be counted," said Ben
Monterroso, national director of Mi Familia Vota.
Under the settlement between plaintiffs-Mi Familia Vota, Colorado
Common Cause and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)-and
the defendant, the Colorado Secretary of State, every wrongfully purged
Colorado voter in question will be placed on a protection list that
assumes their eligibility and guarantees that in the event they are
given a provisional ballot on Election Day, county election officials
will promptly verify their eligibility.
Any ballots of the purged voters contested at the county
level-rather than be discarded and not counted as often happens with
provisional ballots-will have to be reviewed by the Colorado Secretary
of State as well as advocates for the purged voters in order to make
sure all eligible votes are counted. If the Secretary elects to reject
the ballot, representatives of the plaintiffs will also have the
opportunity to review the registration and contest any rejections of
wrongfully purged voters. Additionally, the court will retain
continuing jurisdiction over the tens of thousands of voters wrongfully
purged-which allows plaintiffs to go directly to the judge to swiftly
resolve any disputes and guarantee votes are properly counted.
This stipulation means that the purged Colorado voters in question
will get at least three layers of protections-by the county, state,
plaintiffs' representatives and, if needed, a federal judge-an
unprecedented degree of oversight to ensure that all eligible votes are
counted.
"This settlement provides unprecedented protections to the voters of
Colorado and ensures that the ballots of voters who were erroneously
purged will be accurately counted," said Penda Hair of the Advancement
Project.
"This is a real victory for all of us and particularly the
wrongfully purged voters in Colorado. Most of these voters had no idea
they'd been barred from the voting booth. Today, we all have assurance
that their votes will count. It is a sweet and just victory," said Jim
Johnson, Chair of the Board of the Brennan Center for Justice and
partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
"This is a good outcome for Colorado voters and we are please that
the Secretary of State worked with us to achieve this resolution. Going
forward, the state must work to do better for its voters," said Myrna
Perez, Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Plaintiffs also noted on Thursday that the extraordinary relief
granted to Colorado voters just six days before the election is only a
first step to improving Colorado's purge practices. After the election,
plaintiffs will continue to work to change Colorado's procedures to
improve protections for all voters.
To read the stipulation agreed to before Judge U.S. District Judge John Kane, click here.
To arrange an interview with one of the experts involved in issuing
the complaint, please contact any of the individuals listed above.
BACKGROUND ON THE CASE
The complaint was filed on behalf of Colorado Common Cause, Mi
Familia Vota, and Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
contending that, in an action not required by any Colorado law, the
Secretary of State has removed tens of thousands of voters from the
official voter rolls. The move was a violation of the NVRA, which bans
systematic removal of voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal
election except for narrowly specified reasons. Civic groups brought
substantial evidence that during the NVRA's 90 day no-purge period,
defendant Secretary of State actually removed approximately 30,000
voters' registration records from Colorado's voting rolls, in addition
to the 1,892 whose removal may have been permitted under the NVRA
because of death, incarceration for a felony, or withdrawal.
Several thousand eligible voters have also been removed from the
voter registration list due to a Colorado law that requires
cancellation of new registrations when a non-forwardable notice sent by
mail to the voter is returned as undeliverable within 20 days of
receipt of the registration application. A similar law in Michigan was
recently found by the US District Court to violate the NVRA and
unenforceable.
The plaintiffs were represented by the Advancement Project; Brennan
Center for Justice; Debevoise & Plimpton, LLC; Altshuler Berzon,
LLP; Fair Elections Legal Network; and
Richardson Rosenblatt & Associates, LLC.
All of the parties to the complaint urge voters to "know before they
go" to the polls and to vote early if possible to ensure that any
problems are flagged early and to reduce pressure on polling places on
Election Day. Voters can check their registration, find out where to
vote, or report a problem by going to www.JustVoteColorado.com or by
calling 866-OUR-VOTE.
The Brennan Center for Justice is a nonpartisan law and policy institute. We strive to uphold the values of democracy. We stand for equal justice and the rule of law. We work to craft and advance reforms that will make American democracy work, for all.
(646) 292-8310LATEST NEWS
'Everyone Is Welcome Here' Signs Banned From Idaho Schools as 'Political' Statement
"To say that 'Everyone is Welcome' in a public school system is not political, it's the law," said one Idaho teacher.
Jul 02, 2025
The Idaho attorney general's office has declared schools in the state will no longer be allowed to post signs declaring that "Everyone is welcome here" on the grounds that they are purportedly a political message aimed at criticizing the policies of President Donald Trump.
Idaho Ed Newsreported Monday that the office has found that signs stating "Everyone is welcome here" violate Idaho House Bill 41, a law passed back in March that bars schools from flying flags or displaying signs that represent "a political viewpoint, including but not limited to flags or banners regarding a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender, or a political ideology."
In explaining its rationale, the Idaho attorney general's office claimed that "these signs are part of an ideological/social movement which started in Twin Cities, Minnesota following the 2016 election of Donald Trump" and added that "since that time, the signs have been used by the Democratic Party as a political statement. The Idaho Democratic Party even sells these signs as part of its fundraising efforts.”
The signs became an issue after Sarah Inama, a teacher in Idaho's West Ada School District, had refused to take them down from her classroom in the wake of Idaho House Bill 41's passage because she did not believe that a sign welcoming students regardless of their race or ethnicity should be considered political.
In a statement to Idaho Ed News, Inama once again expressed bewilderment that anyone could find the signs to be a political statement, especially given that government institutions are already legally barred from engaging in racial discrimination.
"To say that 'Everyone is welcome' in a public school system is not political, it's the law," Inama told the publication.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'This Fight Is Not Over': Progressives Launch Last-Ditch Push Against GOP Budget Monstrosity
"This country deserves better than this dumpster fire of greed, cruelty, and cowardice."
Jul 02, 2025
Progressives within and outside of Congress are mobilizing and working to rally public opposition on Wednesday as House Republicans moved to put the final stamp of approval on a budget package that includes unprecedented cuts to Medicaid and federal nutrition assistance—alongside trillions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
"This fight isn't over, and we're not backing down," Andrew O'Neil, national advocacy director of Indivisible, said following the Republican-controlled Senate's narrow passage of the budget reconciliation bill on Tuesday, a vote so close that Vice President JD Vance was forced to intervene to push the measure over the finish line.
The GOP's margins are similarly thin in the House, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) only able to lose three Republican members amid unanimous Democratic opposition.
Indivisible and other advocacy organizations are driving calls and emails to House Republicans on Wednesday urging them to vote down the Senate-passed legislation, which is significantly more expensive and contains more aggressive Medicaid cuts than the bill the House approved in May. Medicaid cuts are highly unpopular with the U.S. public, including among Republican voters.
The phone number for the U.S. House switchboard is (202) 224-3121.
"Your Republican representative could be the deciding vote," Ezra Levin, Indivisible's co-executive director, said in an appearance on MSNBC late Tuesday. "We've got about 26 Republican targets. We need four of them—we just need four. And this is not a done deal."
While a House vote on the legislation could come as soon as Wednesday, far-right hardliners in the Republican caucus are threatening to prevent a quick advance of the bill, pointing to projections that it would add trillions of dollars to the nation's deficit over the next decade.
Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) reportedly headed to the White House on Wednesday to meet with Trump administration officials, who have urged Republican holdovers to drop their objections and help pass the budget legislation.
Progressive lawmakers in the House, meanwhile, are united in firm opposition to the bill, which they warn would have catastrophic impacts on vulnerable Americans nationwide.
"No way will I allow [President Donald] Trump and the GOP to rip healthcare and food away from millions of Americans just so he, [Elon] Musk, and their billionaire buddies can get a tax break," Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said Wednesday, declaring that he will vote "hell no" on the Republican bill.
Today the Senate passed the biggest betrayal of working people in modern history.
It rips health care from 17 million, slashes food aid, and showers billionaires with tax breaks.
Next stop: the House. Progressives will be voting HELL NO. https://t.co/qd4Q13YiNa
— Progressive Caucus (@USProgressives) July 1, 2025
House Republican leaders are hoping to get the bill to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature before the July 4 holiday on Friday.
If passed, experts say the GOP legislation would spark the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in U.S. history.
Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, said Tuesday that the Republican bill "steals from the poor to give massive tax cuts to the wealthy."
"If the Republicans wanted to add $4 trillion to the national debt, they could have instead written a $12,000 check to each and every adult and child in the United States," said Shierholz. "However, this grotesque bill would cause the bottom 40% of households to lose income on average. This country deserves better than this dumpster fire of greed, cruelty, and cowardice."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Rights Defenders Denounce Trump-DeSantis Alligator Alcatraz as 'Direct Assault on Humanity'
"This facility echoes some of our nation's darkest history," said a civil liberties advocate.
Jul 02, 2025
Civil liberties advocates expressed horror on Tuesday after President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a joint press event at a massive new detention facility in the Florida Everglades known as "Alligator Alcatraz."
The facility was first announced last month when Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier unveiled a plan to renovate the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport and transform it into a mass detention center for immigrants. During a press event touting the new facility, DeSantis boasted that detainees being held at the facility had little hope of ever escaping given that it was surrounded by miles of alligator-infested swamps.
"What'll happen is you'll bring people in there, they ain't going anywhere once they're there unless you want them to go somewhere, because, good luck getting to civilization," he explained. "So the security is amazing—natural and otherwise."
Civil liberties advocates were appalled by the new facility, which is lined with razor-wire fence and is projected at least initially to house 5,000 beds for immigrants awaiting deportation. Bacardi Jackson, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, accused Trump and DeSantis of engaging in wanton cruelty with their touting of the new facility and said it harkened back to dark chapters in American history.
"Building a prison-like facility on sacred indigenous land in the middle of the Everglades is a direct assault on humanity, dignity, indigenous sovereignty, and the constitutional protections we all share," she said. “Our laws—both U.S. and Florida—prohibit cruel and unusual punishment. Yet, this facility echoes some of our nation's darkest history, all while trampling the very land that indigenous communities have long fought to protect."
She added that "the facility's opening also comes as Congress is poised to authorize $45 billion in funding to expand the harmful mass immigration detention machine, right on the heels of multiple deaths in detention facilities" and further said that the project "dehumanizes people, strips them of their rights, and diverts public dollars from the services our communities need."
Guardian correspondent Robert Tait, meanwhile, described the press event surrounding the facility's opening as a "calculatedly provocative celebration of the dystopian" in a place that was designed to be "a location of dread to those lacking documentary proof of their right to be in the U.S."
Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta delivered an even more scathing denunciation of the facility on his Substack page, labeling it a "gulag in the swamp" that was intended to distract Trump supporters from the Republican Party's efforts to take an axe to Medicaid spending in their budget bill.
"Trump knows he can salvage a bad news cycle in conservative media if he can find new and, in this case, medieval ways to torment immigrants," Acosta explained. "Distract the base from Medicaid coverage they're going to lose or the skyrocketing deficits plaguing future generations by conjuring up the fantasy of terrified migrants being eaten by alligators—a prospect that seemed to delight Trump when speaking with reporters Tuesday morning."
Amid growing condemnation of the facility, Trump adviser Stephen Miller encouraged other states to pitch their own ideas for migrant detention facilities during a Tuesday night Fox News appearance. What's more, Miller said that accepted proposals from states would receive funding from the very same GOP budget bill that is projected to slash Medicaid spending by over $1 trillion over a 10-year period.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular