Conservatives in Colorado are organizing an all-volunteer "Election Protection Squad" to videotape voters as they drop off their mail-in ballots for this fall's general elections, the
Denver Post reports.
The anti-vote fraud effort comes in response to a new law that allows Coloradans to vote by mail or leave completed ballots at designated drop boxes. The ballots are scheduled to start going out to voters on Oct. 14.
An e-mail circulated by a Republican state Senate candidate asks for "Election Protection Squad" volunteers to attend training sessions for poll watching and take part in 24-7 monitoring of the drop-off sites, the Post reported.
"Some of you night owls can take a shift with your video camera after midnight. Others can watch during the daytime," says the e-mail from candidate Laura Woods to her supporters.
"But THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW."
Woods wrote that the initiative is the work of a conservative talk-radio station, KLZ, in Colorado. Two people named as contacts for the squad declined to tell the Post how many volunteers they've recruited so far.
A Republican candidate for Colorado secretary of state said that the drop-off sites already have video monitoring, but that the volunteer poll-watchers might be on hand to make sure that voters aren't ballot-stuffing.
One local election activist told the Post that the scrutiny is warranted now that mail and drop-off are poised to become the way most Coloradans vote.
An official with the liberal group Common Cause Colorado told the Post that her group will be watching the poll-watchers for signs of voter intimidation.
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