Ruling Senate Democrats passed a measure today that, critics say, would make it easier to commit voter fraud. 

Sponsored by Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, Senate Bill 240 would give anyone, even without proof of eligibility, the ability to register to vote online.  The Rocky Mountain News lambasted the proposal in a staff editorial earlier this year. 

Republicans--who, along with one Democrat, unanimously opposed the measure as an invitation to election abuse--fought unsuccessfully to add security precautions like a photo-ID requirement.

"Photo ID is kind of a passport to participating in all kinds of ordinary life," the GOP's Sen. Shawn Mitchell, of Broomfield, told his colleagues. His appeal fell flat on Gordon, however, who mocked Republican concerns about ineligible voters trying to register.

"Some people have a paranoid delusion that there are people here illegally in the United States in order to vote," Gordon said.

The bill would require the secretary of state to create an online form for people to register to vote and would require the secretary of state to match the signatures of those who register to a set of databases called for in the bill.  It does not require verification of citizenship--only that the registration form must include a notice reminding voters that it is a felony for someone who is ineligible to attempt to register.

An earlier version of the bill, Senate Bill 40, was sidelined by Gordon after Republicans had tried to amend it to tighten election security. When Mitchell made the same effort this week on the new SB 240, he and the GOP were waved off by a defiant Gordon. The majority leader dismissed the likelihood of ineligible people attempting to register because, he said, election officials haven't received any complaints about it.

That drew a rebuke from Mitchell.

"If an unregistered felon voted in front of you, Sen. Gordon, how would you know?" an astonished Mitchell asked Gordon.

“I don’t understand why the Democrat Party opposes securing our voting process,” Mitchell said after the vote.  “If Sen. Gordon thinks that a notice that illegal voting is a felony provides a good security measure, then I invite him to post a notice that burglary is a felony and leave his door unlocked.”

All of Mitchell's attempts to add photo ID and other security measures to the registration process were voted down by the Democrats along party lines. 

“If you need a photo ID to get on a plane, enter a federal building, or buy alcohol, it is not an injustice to show one in order to register to vote,” said Mitchell.  “This is a common-sense security measure.  The majority’s opposition is wrong-headed.”

A Denver Post editorial last year supported a proof-of-citizenship requirement to ensure that only eligible, legal citizens vote in elections.