Statement by Page Gardner, President, The Voter Participation Center RE: Colorado Voter Registration Effort
February 27th, 2012
STATEMENT BY PAGE GARDNER, PRESIDENT, VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER
RE: COLORADO VOTER REGISTRATION EFFORT
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
In the course of mailing more than one million voter registration applications to 27 states this week, a printer’s mistake was made that affected the 17,291 applications sent to Colorado. Immediately after being informed by the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office yesterday, The Voter Participation Center took steps to rectify the problem.
The registration applications went to unregistered Colorado residents without a signature line on the state registration form. Postcards explaining the problem are being sent to all recipients of the mailing and corrected, official registration forms will be forwarded to all recipients in the next few weeks.
The Voter Participation Center (VPC) worked cooperatively with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office before finalizing the mailers and as in the past, sincerely appreciates their input and support.
The VPC works specifically to boost voter turnout among underrepresented groups – the unmarried women, Latinos, African-Americans, and young people who make up the majority of the population (53 percent), but do not yet represent the majority of the electorate. In the 2010 elections, they made up 42 percent of the electorate. Our job is to close that gap.
In Colorado, these voters make up 46.2 percent of the voting eligible population; more than 42 percent of them are unregistered. The VPC encourages the people who receive the corrected form to fill it out and return it.
