Week 7: Two "foreign" approaches to voting

Dear Colorado Voter,

I posted on all 4 of my social media accounts that the SAVE Act would "impose hurdles to registering to vote." One account got 500 replies – many of them apparently bots. Most of the replies have since been deleted, presumably by a system administrator.

Rather than make voting more difficult, the U.S. could adopt one of these "foreign" approaches to voting: an affirmative right to vote or universal voting (aka civic-duty or compulsory voting).

Some nations have an affirmative right to vote in their constitution, but not the United States. Election law expert Richard Hasen wrote A Real Right to Vote: How a Constitutional Amendment Can Safeguard American Democracy. An affirmative right to vote, by design, prohibits efforts to suppress voter turnout.

Universal (all-citizen) voting better captures the will of the people, thereby conferring real legitimacy on the winners. When less affluent and less powerful people show up to vote and have their voices heard, they have a bigger stake in the election. In the U.S., the people who "get around" to voting – often the voters on the political extremes – make the decisions. The organization 100% Democracy advocates for universal voting. https://100percentdemocracy.org/

On a different topic, my campaign has just finished week 7 of our 38-week campaign. You may be getting a lot of emails asking for money before the end of the day because today is also the end of the first quarter of the year. Candidates want you to feel some urgency to contribute NOW – but I would argue that they are promoting an artificial deadline. The end of the reporting period for candidates for Colorado offices is not until April 29, more than four weeks away. I might make my own plea closer to the real deadline.

Unfortunately, the world pays close attention to how much money candidates raise. And money is important to pay for campaign infrastructure, travel, printed campaign materials and non-print media.

Please continue to check the campaign website regularly, spread the word about my candidacy, and encourage people to sign up for these weekly emails and attend events. Please tell any of your Pueblo friends or family that I'll be at the Fuel and Iron Food Hall on Wednesday evening.

With enthusiasm and purpose,

Celeste