The Democrat-led Senate blocked a GOP effort today to set safeguards against illegal voting in elections.

The effort was led by Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, in response to what he argued was Colorado's lax requirements for registering to vote.

"We don't even check your citizenship status in this state," said Harvey.

"We don't even know how bad the problem is until we start checking. It's the law of the land that only citizens can vote -- all we're proposing is that we make sure that's the case.

Harvey's measure would have required a prospective voter to show verifiable evidence of their citizenship when registering to vote, such as a drivers' license or a passport. The proposed amendment failed on a party-line vote during debate on a wide-ranging procedure bill.

“I actually have had contact with a lot of people who are undocumented, and I’ve had people call me and say that they wish they could vote for me," said Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo. "But they can’t vote for me because they’re not documented.

Many illegals are not even interested in voting, added Tapia.

Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, took umbrage at that argument.

"If illegal aliens don't want to vote anyway, then we're not harming anyone with this amendment," he said. "Unless, of course, it is Democrat office-seekers that we are harming."