Senate Dems press on with bid to let parolees vote

A Democrat bill allowing convicted felons to vote while on parole passed the Senate today despite a dogged effort by the GOP to halt the measure.

Senate Bill 83, by Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, was introduced as an all-purpose clean-up of the state’s elections process, but it was amended by Democrats last month on the Senate floor -- bypassing a public hearing -- to award parolees full voting rights.

Democrats made the controversial change to long-standing law over the objections of Attorney General John Suthers and Secretary of State Mike Coffman. The surprise amendment prompted repeated tries by outnumbered Senate Republicans to scuttle the measure. 

Today's last stand to kill the bill in the Senate was led by Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita. His effort, using a procedural move, was able to garner only one Democrat, Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, with the bill surviving on a 19-16 vote.

“Senate Bill 83, as it has moved its way through, is a ‘poison pill’,” said Penry on the Senate floor. “The best thing to do is put this bill down.”

Tupa disagreed and called his measure “good public policy” and one that “has come a long way in instilling voter confidence.”

“The parolee voting is not enough to vote against the bill,” Tupa said, conceding the controversy surrounding that provision.

Under longstanding current law, convicted felons do not become eligible to vote until after they complete their parole.

Also speaking out today against SB 83, which still faces a final, formal vote in the Senate, was Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs.

“The public is going to remember the felons part of the bill if it passes and makes headlines,” he said. “That’s why I cannot support it.”