Home » Viral Video Raises Eyebrows About Voter Registration

Viral Video Raises Eyebrows About Voter Registration

Over the weekend a video went viral of a voter registration worker at a Safeway grocery store in El Paso County, Colorado. The young woman in the video is attempting to register voters outside the grocery store, but first asked, “would you vote for Romney or Obama?”

Uh oh. Yeah that is a problem, but it gets worse. the unidentified woman who shot the video asks the woman performing the registration who she works for. The Young woman admits, “I’m actually trying to register voters for a particular party, because…we’re out here in support of Romney, actually.”

So now that she has come out and said that she is actually promoting Mitt Romney, the woman recording the incident asks who is paying her for the work she is doing. The young woman says, “We’re working for the county clerk’s office.”

“You’re working for the county clerk’s office?” the woman videoing asks.

“I believe so. Yes,” came the reply.

According the responses sent by the CO Secretary of State’s office, as well as, the El Paso County Clerk to The Brad Blog, the registration worker was not working for the El Paso County Clerk’s office.

According to a KOAA News 5 report, the El Paso County Republican Chairman Eli Bremer confirmed that the young lady actually worked for them but said she was confused when confronted over who she was working for. “It was her first day on the job and she panicked,” Bremer told KOAA. “She knew that she was turning in all the registrations to the County Clerk & Recorder’s office and she knew that was the appropriate thing to do, and that’s how she answered.” He also added that “You don’t have to offer a voter registration form to everybody.”

The Brad Blog went on to points out:

But Bremer’s responses were not completely candid, says Christy LeLait, Executive Directory of the El Paso County Democratic Party. Bremer had accused the woman who took the video and posted it on Youtube of being “a campaign operative” for Democrats, and that she was only attempting “to make political hay out of it.”

LeLait told KOAA that Bremer’s charges were “interesting.”

“I don’t know of any campaign operatives here in El Paso County and I know for certain that the woman who shot this video is not a campaign operative,” LeLait said, “she’s a volunteer with several different organizations including the El Paso Democratic Party and she’s also a precinct chair.”

LeLait says that, unlike Republicans, at least in her county, Democrats do not screen out voters, at least not in the same way, when signing up new registrants. “I know for a fact the campaign office is not going out and prescreening the people that are registering,” she says. “They will set up a table with an Obama sign but they don’t ask you who you’re voting for before you register.”

Now the question is: Is it legal?

Brad Friedman writes,

CO’s Election Code (see section 1-2-506. Prohibitions [PDF]) says only that registration workers “shall not…(a) Seek to influence an applicant’s political preference or party registration; (b) Display any political preference or party allegiance; (c) Make any statement to an applicant or take any action, the purpose or effect of which is to discourage the applicant from registering to vote.”

Does claiming to be “taking a poll” and asking “would you vote for Romney or Obama?”, as the young lady is seen doing in the video, before offering a registration form constitute “a statement…or action…the purpose or effect of which is to discourage the applicant from registering to vote”? According to the Republican Sec. of State and El Paso County Clerk, the answer seems to be ‘no’.

Nonetheless, the matter certainly appears to walk a precarious legal and ethical line that the GOP would, to quote Bremer, almost certainly “make political hay out of,” had the situation been reversed and the video revealed either an ACORN worker or someone from the Democratic Party on video doing the very same thing.

So while things are considered perfectly legal, one has to wonder how ethical it is to, as the young woman said, “register voters for a particular party.” In all fairness, the young woman probably didn’t fully understand what she was doing. That is not an excuse for what she did. After all, I’m glad to see young people involved in politics. They just need to learn to do things correctly.

The video is below:

Tagged with

colorado el paso mitt romney voter registration

bananafanafo

Girl has a right 2 ask her survey question. She is putting her own time in I’ve seen (on TV tapings) ACORN driving & telling them who 2 vote for. NO SURVEY never mentions the other person..
A. Levy

Is there anyone so weak-minded and stupid as to believe this will be a fair election, or anywhere near a fair election? The Muslim-in-Chief has already stated to people that he “will be” reelected. The Left “will not” relinquish their power, no matter what! All the charges (and actual incidences) of voter fraud that will surface from now until after the election will simply be “washed away” by the MSM. Remember the Black Panthers? The only question is, will the American sheeple tolerate this abuse. And the asnwer is, yes!
snipertoo

This is a great video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfrd8vRBla4&feature=player_embedded. If this is not a good link, than type in Bishop E.W. Jackson: EXODUS Now Blacks, Christians, Jews, Godly must leave the Domocrat Party! After viewing send it on to others. It’s great. he is also on http://www.StandAmerica.us
http://www.survivingurbancrisis.com/ Silas Longshot

It’s BS by the left, the kid’s first day on the street with this and she’s only asking if you’d vote at all, since the candidates are king zero and Romney. Obviously you’ll have to vote for one or the other. AND if the person said 0bama, did she give them the paperwork or not?
The people that put the kid out there should have made things a lot more plain to her.
But this is piddle compared to the underhanded crap the left is pulling everywhere, particularly in no ID states.
Jack_Reacher

Let’s see … that’s ONE complaint against the GOP for some sort of voting or registering error/mistake, etc. VERSUS THOUSANDS of deliberate voting violations committed by democrats. And what about this crap of “No voter photo ID required”? To me that is the most blatant violation of voting laws ever!
Brenda

Does anyone remember ACORN? Enough said.
WASP

It’s a lot easier for the democraps registering dead people, incarcerated criminals, and illegal aliens. You always know where to find them.
Root digger

Much ado!! When you register to vote, unfortunately, you must register as a member of a political party. It is patently UNCONSTITUTIONAL; however, it is the way the money masters make certain we must vote for one of THEIR candidates. Very clever. If you do not register as either a Republican or a Democrat, you must register as an “independent” which means you cannot vote in the primary, This makes sure you will not vote for a “maverick”. Most states, whose politicians are all EITHER Republican or Democrat, make it impossible to get a third party on the ballot. Oklahoma had a wonderful candidate for governor on the Republican ticket last time, who had tried to correct this while in the State Senate; however, the money master candidate won and many of us remain disenfranchised..
- REVDR
  
  You can vote in the primary if your an independent, it just depends on each states rules.
pyrope

Is it ethical? I don’t know, is stationing Black Panthers outside the polls to intimidate white voters “ethical?” Apparently it is, Eric Holder STILL has not prosecuted them.
What we have here folks is a war–either -0bama is reelected or Mitt Romney is elected.
If Resident -0bama is reelected, the United States of America will DIE! If Mitt Romney is elected, the United States of America might writhe in agony a few years longer. Candidly, I do not think our Republic will ever regain its health, but I keep praying it will and doing what I can anyway.
- http://FrontPorchPolitics.com/ Tim Brown
  
  I totally agree pyrope. what amazes me is how people will point to the Dems and say well, they did it. yeah we know and we condemn them for it, but when people on our side do it, we look to justify it. frankly it’s sickening on both sides.
- pyrope
  
  It’s important to us as individuals, and thus as a civilization, to understand there truly are no shades of grey; a thing is right or it is wrong. When we compromise our standards for the sake of expediency, we are guilty of doing a wrong. We are lesser people for having done so.
  On recognizing this premise, will we continue to make mistakes in judgement? Almost assuredly, we will! The defining moment, however, is what we do once we discover we are guilty of an errant behavior.
  If we do not confess our lapses in ethics, and then atone for our errors, we leave the damage we have done unmitigated and project to those who are aware of our actions that we are unrepentant by fiat; the structure of our civilization becomes weaker and thus more prone to collapse.
  The United States has made some grievous errors in the past–slavery to be sure; denying equal rights to all citizens without question, and; discrimination against an individual or group because of their religion, ethnicity, and so on. Those were sad days in our history and, thank God, we saw the light of truth and made amends.
  But now we see an unrepentant America–from the individual to the government as a whole–and we are guilty of atrocities far worse than those we committed heretofore. To me, it is obvious that we are living in a defining moment!
  I believe many other people see it, too, and I believe they are overwhelmed by the sadness of what they see and they do not know what to do.
  The solution to this dilemma might, however, be more simple than anyone would admit but working the solution requires courage. I offer the following for your consideration:
  Change begins from within. I think we must first change ourselves and then carry – and LIVE – our message to those whom have not come to understand this simplistic remedy. We must work to know whether a thing is right or wrong and then identify right or wrong for what it is.
  Most assuredly, we will be met with vicious resistance from those who are comfortable in embracing the wrong and denying the right–their avarice and subterfuge have given them power and advantage they might never have otherwise gained–but we must go forward taking comfort in the knowledge that right always triumphs over wrong and there is within each rational individual a kernel of their being that enables them to know and understand that it is better to do what is right.
  I see you doing right Tim so this message is not for you but for those who occasion to visit your sight and see the work you are doing for the right. I am praying for you and I can tell you there are many of us who are glad that you are doing what you do. Thanks!
KirkG.

Interesting how , Christy LeLait, the Executive Director of the El Paso Democratic Party says that “they will set up a table with an Obama sign but they don’t ask who you are voting for.” which is in direct violation of CO. Election Code listed above. 1-2-506 (b) says that it is illegal to ” display any political preference or party allegiance”. I guess its ok to break the rules if your a Democrat but if your a Republican they make a big deal out of it.
- http://FrontPorchPolitics.com/ Tim Brown
  
  I say it’s not ok for either of them to break the rules or be unethical.
http://twitter.com/jude83268949 jude

I’m sure the democrats didn’t do this in 2008.
- Stan
  
  Surely not! They dont even want voter ID. Democrats need to remember, illegal voting works both ways. It just encourages both parties to cheat at the polls. Maybe the ones that think getting a voter ID takes too much effort, should not be voting any way.
Sutekh

This is why the system of political parties, which the Founding Fathers didn’t really anticipate nor put into the Constitution, is so bad.
Voter registration drives are for the purpose of registering ALL eligible voters.
With the advent of political parties, we now have voter registration whose intent is to register only those who will vote for one’s one party affiliation, deny registration to eligible voters who will not vote for one’s party affiliation, and the registering of people who are not even eligible to vote (because they are not citizens, or because they are dead,) because one expects these indiivduals to vote for one’s party affiliation.
Our political parties only care about winning. And voter registraton is a function of the state that is supposed to be objective and neutral.
This election has become about which candidate is the worse liar. Fortunately this time around, the one who is the worst made it very plain and obvious by telling lies continually in public for months and months before the campaign even began.