Federal government provides Colorado access to immigration database

Gessler's office to verify voter citizenship status with SAVE program

Denver, August 24, 2012 - After weeks of prodding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler signed an agreement with the agency to access the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program. Gessler's office will begin comparing voters who showed a non-citizen document to the Division of Motor Vehicles with the SAVE database to verify their citizenship status. 

"This system will help us verify whether individuals who showed proof of non-citizenship have in fact become naturalized since registering to vote," Gessler said. "My office is focused on protecting Colorado elections and we’ll continue to work with these individuals to preserve their voter registration or help them withdraw if they’re wrongly listed on the rolls."

Last week, Gessler’s office mailed letters to almost 4,000 registered voters who at one time presented proof of non-citizenship.

"I’m heartened by the cooperation of these individuals who either proudly displayed their naturalization papers or withdrew their registrations," Gessler said. "Each of these people help improve the integrity of Colorado’s voter rolls."

For those individuals who don’t respond to the letters, Gessler announced that his office will hold hearings prior to taking any action on their voter records. His office will hold a public meeting on Wednesday at 1:00 to discuss the hearing process.