Colorado dumps Crosscheck, urges other states to flee the program.
Another one bites the dust, following Illinois’ announcement that the state has decided to withdraw from Crosscheck, which following similar moves by Kentucky and Massachusetts.
Colorado’s newly elected Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, slammed the voter list cleansing program, controlled by Kris Kobach of Kansas, for taking away the rights of eligible voters. In the formal notice of withdrawal Griswold stated:
“From the beginning, Crosscheck has been riddled with problems, relating both to the quality of data and the security of voters’ personal information… Crosscheck has also been used as a partisan tool, leading to an increase in voter disenfranchisement. We can no longer support this in the current political climate, where emotion seeks to trump reason. For these reasons Colorado is immediately withdrawing from Crosscheck. I encourage other states and jurisdictions to do the same.”
Below is a screenshot of part of the confidential Crosscheck list sent to the Colorado Secretary of State by Kobach, who touted it as a list of voters who registered to vote in two states. Note that Karen Wilson Anderson of Midland, Georgia is supposed to be the same voter as Karen Broderick Anderson of Westminster Colorado – yet the middle names don’t match.
In 2013, the Palast Investigative team began an investigation and very lonely campaign to expose Crosscheck. Until we published our reports on Aljazeera America and in Rolling Stone, every prior media report had praised Crosscheck as a sophisticated means of hunting down and purging voter rolls of voters registered in two states.
Except there were none in most states, no more than 12 nationwide. Yet, 1.1 million voters had their registrations cancelled by this ethnic cleansing operation championed by Kris Kobach, Trump’s “Purge’n General.”
Note: our team will continue its litigation against Colorado until the voters previously purged are returned to the rolls. And I’d like to thank my co-plaintiff in Illinois, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, for making Crosscheck a national issue in the voting rights community.
With Kobach’s election loss in Kansas, that state will be target number one. Kill Kobach’s Rosemary’s Baby of disenfranchisement in its cradle.
And for those who’ve helped our operation stay operating, thank you again.
Greg Palast (Rolling Stone, Guardian, BBC) is the author of The New York Times bestsellers, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits and the book and documentary,
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.
His latest film is Vigilante: Georgia's Vote Suppression Hitman
Support The Palast Investigative Fund and keep our work alive.
Become a monthly Contributor.
Or support us by shopping with Amazon Smile. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your purchases to the Sustainable Markets Foundation which automatically goes to the benefit of The Palast Investigative Fund and you get a tax-deduction! More info .
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter or his special list for Poems & Stories.
