DENVER (LifeSiteNews) – The Colorado Secretary of State’s office announced last week that it had sent out to 30,000 resident noncitizens postcards encouraging voter registration.
In a statement to the press, a spokesman for Colorado Democrat Secretary of State Jena Griswold said, “The Department has become aware that approximately 30,000 EBU [eligible but unregistered] postcard mailers were incorrectly sent to ineligible Coloradans … The office is taking an internal review of the incident and will take any corrective action that is warranted.”
Griswold’s office stated that the postcards were sent on September 27 and that the error occurred when Department employees compared a list of 102,000 people from the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), an interstate organization dedicated to encouraging people to register to vote and improving voting rolls, to a list of Colorado residents issued driver’s licenses. The list of Colorado residents, provided by the Colorado Department of Revenue, did not include formatting that distinguished between noncitizen residents with driver’s licenses and citizen residents, Griswold’s office maintains.
The postcards sent by the Colorado Department of State explicitly mark the requirements for registering to vote, including being over the age of 18, being a U.S. citizen, and being a resident of Colorado for at least 22 days before the next election, Colorado Public Radio reported. The postcards also direct the recipient to register to vote online at a provided website.
The Secretary of State’s office says that it is not aware of any noncitizens who attempted to register and that, if any such attempt were made, Colorado’s online voting registration system would reject the application.
The office is now in the process of contacting the noncitizens who received the postcard to inform them that only those who meet the requirements can register to vote. It also maintains that it will implement new policies to help to stop further incidents.
“The Department will also compare the list of approximately 30,000 individuals who incorrectly received the EBU mailer postcard to the statewide voter list on a daily basis to ensure none of those individuals register. County clerks refer illegal registrations to their local district attorney for review,” said a spokesperson for Griswold’s office.
UPDATE (01/30/23): Mark Houck has been AQUITTED on both charges!
Thanks be to God LifeSiteNews can report that Mark Houck has been found "Not Guilty" on all counts today.
In a statement to LifeSiteNews, Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania spokeswoman and Houck family friend Ashley Garecht said “We rejoice and celebrate that Mark Houck has been found not guilty on all counts.”
“This case was always about a father’s right to protect his son, and never had anything to do with the FACE act,” she said. “We are grateful to the judge for his integrity, and to the jurors for their thoughtful deliberations. We are grateful to Mark’s attorneys who labored so diligently in his defense. And we are grateful for all of those who surrounded and supported Mark and his family in prayer through this challenging ordeal.”
“Most of all we praise and thank God for his protection and provision,” Garecht added. “To Him be all the glory.”
The Thomas More Society is set to hold a press conference today on the 6th street side of the James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse, 601 Market Street, Philadelphia.
Monday’s verdict came after a tense weekend wait following a deadlocked jury on Friday.
Several hours into Monday’s deliberations after the jury reconvened, an alternate was chosen to replace one of the jurors. Just before 3:00 p.m. EST, the jury delivered its verdict, acquitting Houck on both charges.
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Mark Houck, a pro-life Catholic father of 7, became the latest victim of an FBI raid and arrest on the morning of Friday September 23 — for supposed “FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act” violations — at his rural home as his children looked on “screaming.”
The arrest and raid stems from an altercation with a Planned Parenthood worker.
According to Mark’s wife Ryan-Marie, a “pro-abortion protester” would verbally harrass Mark's 12-year old son — hurling vulgar and derogatory statements.
When the protestor encroached in the boy's space, Mark defended his son. At that point, “Mark shoved him away from his child, and the guy fell back,” Ryan-Marie recounts.
The protestor was not injured, but he tried to sue Mark Houck for the assault but his case was thrown out of court in the early summer.
WE CANNOT ALLOW THE LEFT TO HARRASS PRO-LIFE ADVOCATES THIS WAY!
It's vital to stand in solidarity with a pro-family and pro-life man being unjustly persecuted - please SIGN & SHARE our message of support now.
In case you hadn't caught on already, the satanic Biden administration is waging war on Christians. https://t.co/E6ChpZVDYW
— Michael (X) Knowles ✊ (@michaeljknowles) September 24, 2022
The description of this arrest sounds like it took place in a totalitarian state. A tragic unraveling of Justice in America. https://t.co/e3vEID7E39
— Bishop J. Strickland (@Bishopoftyler) September 25, 2022
If convicted, Houck faces up to a maximum of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $350,000, according to the Justice Department.
Additional conservative pro-life leaders have weighed in — this is why we need your support ASAP.
“Just in the last few days we’ve seen some pretty glaring examples of what appear to be instances of DOJ [Department of Justice] overreach. You’ve got a Catholic father of seven who formed a group designed to encourage young men to be faithful to their commitments, arrested in front of his seven children just recently. You’ve got all these instances of overreach. It’s deeply concerning to us all. These are all things we’re gonna be looking into.” — US Senator Mike Lee
Tell the Houck family that you stand by them!
SIGN: We stand with pro-life Catholic dad of 7 raided by Biden’s FBI
Please share this petition widely. Let's stand in solidarity with Mark Houck and his family.
Thank you.
This is not the first time the Colorado Department of State has made a mistake about contacting people to register to vote. In 2020, a similar mailing was sent to resident noncitizens and to the dead, provoking calls for a federal investigation.
Griswold is up for reelection in November and frequently mentions her national advocacy for secure elections, Fox News reported. She faces Republican Pam Anderson, a former county clerk, head of the state’s county clerks association, and an advocate for the state’s all-mail voting system.
Colorado is a founding member of ERIC, which consists of at least 30 other states and the District of Columbia. According to Colorado’s contract with the interstate organization, Colorado must contact eligible voters who do not appear on voter registrations to encourage them to register to vote.
Louisiana left the organization in January after Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin read about allegations made against ERIC of “potential questionable funding sources and that possibly partisan actors may have access to ERIC network data for political purposes, potentially undermining voter confidence,” according to a press release from his office.
The postcards were sent in a time when mistrust of voting integrity persists in the wake of the 2020 election.
In April, a government watchdog released a report that flagged over 60,000 North Carolina voter registrations ahead of the November midterms.
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