Election 2016
Declassified intel report finds Putin, Russia meddled in US election to undermine faith, help Trump
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A declassified version of a report by the three top U.S. intelligence agencies on possible Russian meddling into the 2016 General Election says Russia and President Vladimir Putin aimed specifically to undermine faith in the American electoral process and discredit Hillary Clinton in favor of Donald Trump.
The report (click to read in full) from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and national Security Agency (NSA) “is a declassified version of a highly classified assessment,” according to the document, but its findings are “identical” to the classified version. Continue reading
Colorado ‘faithless elector’ Micheal Baca referred to attorney general for possible prosecution
DENVER – The Colorado Democratic elector who was replaced Monday after writing Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s name on the elector ballot, instead of voting for Hillary Clinton in accordance with state law, will face investigation by the state attorney general for possible charges.
Micheal Baca, who was among three “Hamilton electors” from Colorado trying to flip electors across the country to not vote for Donald Trump, faces possible misdemeanor charges should the attorney general decide to pursue them.
After a Denver District Court judge tossed an amended oath of office for electors a half-hour before they were set to take their oaths and cast their electoral votes.
But Secretary of State Wayne Williams was allowed to make a new rule, and was able to put together a temporary rule that added nearly identical language to the electors’ oaths in that half hour.
The oath all nine electors took, including Baca, said that they were to vote for the presidential candidate who won the popular vote in Colorado. It was based off an existing statute in Colorado law that says as much, thus binding the Democratic electors to Clinton this year.
Baca and the two other “Hamilton electors” – Polly Baca and Robert Nemanich – took the new oaths.
But Micheal Baca did not check the only box on the ballot, which was for Clinton and her running mate, Timothy Kaine.
Instead, he wrote Kasich’s name on the ballot. State courts had ruled last week that should an elector fail to vote for Clinton, he or she would be replaced.
Indeed, Baca was replaced by Celeste Landry of Boulder after an on-the-spot vote by the other electors. She voted for Clinton and Kaine.
Williams had said he planned to refer Baca to the attorney general to face possible prosecution.
Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert officially referred Baca, saying he “cast a ballot contrary to the oath” and in violation of state statute.
It will now be up to Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman to decide whether or not to prosecute Baca. He could face misdemeanor charges that could lead to a fine or possible jail time should Coffman pursue charges.
No “faithless elector” has ever been punished, according to the National Archive.
After raucous electoral vote in Colorado and removal of elector, Trump reaches 270 votes anyway
DENVER – In a raucous occasion at the Colorado state Capitol Monday, the state’s nine Democratic electors voted for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine as state law requires them to, but only after several last-minute court decisions were made regarding electors’ oaths and one elector was replaced when he failed to vote for Clinton.
The vote happened after more than a week of court filings and arguments over interpretations of the state and federal constitutions, as a group of “Hamilton electors” argued the constitution does not bind electors to vote for a certain candidate and pushed for the Electoral College to put someone other than Donald Trump in the White House. Continue reading
Colorado electors appeal to state Supreme Court, arguing that state has no jurisdiction to punish
DENVER – The attorney for two Colorado electors seeking to block a state law requiring them to vote for Hillary Clinton has filed an emergency appeal with the Colorado Supreme Court to try again to have the case heard before they have to cast their electoral votes on Monday.
Polly Baca, a former state senator from Denver, and Robert Nemanich, an elector from Colorado Springs, are a part of the so-called “Hamilton electors” movement that is trying to keep President-elect out of the White House and send the election to the House of Representatives for the third time ever. They filed suit last week. Continue reading
Colorado ‘Hamilton Electors’ file appeal in 10th Circuit in continued attempt to not elect Trump
DENVER – The two Colorado electors who saw their attempts to get a state law that requires them to vote for the winner of the state’s popular vote for president dashed by a federal judge Monday filed an appeal Tuesday in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Monday, U.S. District Court of Colorado Judge Wiley Daniel denied Polly Baca and Robert Nemanich’s motion for a temporary restraining order that would have blocked the state law that now requires they vote for Hillary Clinton, since she won Colorado’s popular vote. Continue reading
More than 20K ballots in Colorado not counted because of signature discrepancies, ID problems
DENVER – More than 21,000 General Election ballots in Colorado weren’t counted because voters either failed to verify discrepancies in their signatures, didn’t sign their ballots or didn’t verify their registration with a form of identification.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office certified the state’s election results late last week.
The certified results show 2,859,216 ballots were cast – a number that differed from a spreadsheet released by the office Dec. 5 – before the results were certified – that showed more than 2.88 million ballots had been counted.
The 2016 General Election was the first presidential election in which Colorado used a mail-in ballot system. Registered voters were mailed a ballot weeks before Election Day and had to either mail them back or drop them off at their county clerk’s office or drop-off locations.
Each ballot required a signature that matched the signature on the person’s voter registration form in order to minimize any possible voter fraud. If there were discrepancies, those people had eight days to verify their signatures with their local county clerk after Election Day, lest their ballot not count.
Lynn Bartels, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s Office, said there were a total of 21,408 ballots that were mailed in or dropped off that weren’t counted because of the various discrepancies.
Ballots with signature discrepancies amounted to the largest group that weren’t counted; 16,209 ballots had signatures that weren’t verified.
A total of 2,606 ballots weren’t signed at all, and Bartels said 2,593 ballots weren’t counted because no identification to verify a person’s registration was provided.
Many of the ballots not counted because a person’s identity wasn’t verified likely came from people who registered through voter registration drives or who registered late and needed to provide a copy of a U.S. or Colorado ID in order for their vote to count.
The Secretary of State’s Office turns over the ballots whose signatures weren’t verified to local district attorneys across the state. It is up to them to pursue any possible voter fraud cases, though none have so far been announced.
Despite the somewhat large number of ballots not counted, Colorado still saw a voter turnout of 74.5 percent – up from just under 71 percent in the 2012 presidential election.
Gov. John Hickenlooper has already signed off on the presidential election results and the U.S. Senate race won by Michael Bennet, and has 30 days from Dec. 8 to sign off on the rest of the results. If he fails to do so, the measures passed by voters will become law automatically after the 30-day period.
New laws on medical aid in dying, minimum wage, HOV lanes, medical marijuana in effect
DENVER – A handful of Colorado laws will take effect either by the end of this month or as of Jan. 1 next year that will bring major changes for drivers, workers and the terminally-ill, among others.
PROPOSITION 106 – MEDICAL AID IN DYING
The first law to come into effect is likely to be the “right-to-die” measure, Proposition 106, which was approved by voters in the Nov. 8 General Election.
Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams certified the state’s election results and signed off on the measure late last week.
Now, Gov. John Hickenlooper has 30 days to sign the measure, and other successful ballot measures, into state law. Should he not sign off on the successful measures, they will automatically become law after the 30-day deadline.
But Hickenlooper is expected to sign Proposition 106 by the end of the month.
Voters approved Proposition 106 by 64.9 percent. Terminally-ill patients seeking end-of-life prescriptions will be able to start requesting them as soon as Hickenlooper certifies the results.
The proposition would change Colorado statutes to allow any “mentally-capable” adult aged 18+ with a diagnosed terminal illness that leaves them six months or less to live to receive a prescription from a licensed physician that can be taken voluntarily to end their life.
The person’s primary physician and a secondary physician would both have to confirm the person has six or fewer months to live, and would also have to be deemed mentally-capable enough to make the end-of-life decision by two physicians as well.
The change in statute would create immunity from civil or criminal lawsuits, as well as from professional discipline, for the physicians aiding the patient in dying. Under current law, those physicians face felony manslaughter charges for doing so.
But it would also be a class-2 felony for anyone to tamper with a request for the end-of-life medication or coerce a patient into making an end-of-life decision
Colorado is the fifth state to legalize similar measures. Oregon, California, Vermont and Washington already have similar laws on their books. Montana’s law books leave the question open as to whether such measures are legal in the state.
Read more on Proposition 106 here.
MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE KICKS IN JAN. 1
Another ballot measure that will go into effect almost immediately will be the state minimum wage hike – which was approved by 55.4 percent of voters in November under its ballot moniker, Amendment 70.
Starting Jan. 1, the statewide minimum wage will change to $9.30 per hour for non-tipped workers. It will rise by $0.90 per hour each year until it reaches $12 an hour on Jan. 1, 2020.
The current minimum wage for non-tipped workers is $8.31 per hour and $5.29 for tipped workers. Starting Jan. 1, tipped workers will make $6.28 per hour. Colorado law mandates tipped wages remain set at $3.02 less than non-tipped wages.
By 2020, the minimum wage for tipped workers will be $8.98.
The current federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 per hour for non-tipped workers and $2.13 per hour for tipped workers.
Starting in 2021, the minimum wage will again be tied back to the state’s consumer price index, though Amendment 70 would change the constitution to prevent a decrease in the minimum wage if the cost of living falls.
THREE-PERSON HOV LANE REQUIREMENTS START JAN. 1
Also beginning on New Year’s Day will be the three-person requirement in order to use the HOV express lanes between Denver and Boulder.
Currently, drivers only need one passenger to use the lanes, but the Colorado Department of Transportation made the new plans to require an extra passenger in 2013.
CDOT told Denver7 earlier this month the three-person requirement will keep the lanes from getting too crowded, and that toll revenue generated by users will help offset the costs of building and maintaining the lanes.
Anyone who breaks the new three-person rule is subject to a $250 fine.
Resources for finding carpoolers can be found here.
NEW RULES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROWERS, CAREGIVERS
Also set to become effective Jan. 1 are new rules for medical marijuana growers and primary caregivers for medical marijuana patients passed in a bill in 2015.
The rules were part of the bill that targeted people selling illegal marijuana by implementing more oversight over growers.
Starting Jan. 1, primary caregivers will be the only person allowed to grow and provide medical marijuana to a patient if they utilize a caregiver. Licensed medical marijuana growers will also be allowed to sell medical pot.
But the primary caregivers growing medical marijuana will have to register the location of their grow, their patients’ registration numbers in the medical program and plant counts with the state.
Transporters will also have to tell the state the number of plants or amount of medical marijuana going to each patient, as well as who the product is going to.
Primary caregivers will also be limited to growing and transporting up to 36 plants unless their patients have an extended plant count. They will be limited to 99 plants even with the extended count.
Also included in that bill and set to go into effect Jan. 1 is a voluntary patient registration for people growing more than six plants. They are allowed to grow up to 99 plants. The law says any information from voluntary registrants will be kept private, though their grow locations would be verified by the state.
The law says most of the new facets going into effect Jan. 1 are aimed at protecting growers and patients from law enforcement operations targeting illegal grows, after some agencies voiced concerns over a lack of knowledge of who was growing legally and who wasn’t.
2 Colorado electors file suit in hopes of not voting for Clinton as anti-Trump movement continues
DENVER – The long-shot attempt by two of Colorado’s Electoral College voters to put someone in the White House not named Donald Trump grew short legs Tuesday when the electors filed a lawsuit against Colorado’s secretary of state, governor and attorney general saying they shouldn’t have to vote for Hillary Clinton as state law requires.
Robert Nemanich, of Colorado Springs, and Polly Baca, a former state senator from Denver, filed the suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court of Colorado after a week of posturing – saying they would work with other electors from across the country to make someone other than Trump president. Continue reading
President Obama, Fox News hosts in war of words over Obama’s Rolling Stone comments on network
DENVER – President Barack Obama and Fox News personalities are in a war of words after the president criticized the 24-hour network for its role in the election in a recent interview with Rolling Stone.
The magazine asked Obama in the interview, released Monday, if he still thought the U.S. was “a progressive country.”
Obama responded by saying Democrats had trouble this election getting working-class white voters who cast ballots for him to do the same for Hillary Clinton. Many of the votes went to Donald Trump.
“I think that part of it has to do with our inability, our failure, to reach those voters effectively,” Obama told Rolling Stone. “Part of it is Fox News in every bar and restaurant in big chunks of the country, but part of it is also Democrats not working at a grassroots level, being in there, showing up, making arguments.”
“We spend a lot of time focused on international policy and national policy and less time being on the ground,” Obama continued.
Fox News is the top-rated cable network and is extremely popular with conservatives, though the median age of its demographic is 68, according to Quartz.
Fox News personalities have lashed back at Obama’s statements since they were released. Politico has documented some of their statements.
Howard Kurtz said Obama was “scapegoating” the network; Eric Bolling pointed out that Democrats rarely come on the network, and Megyn Kelly said Obama “just wants to lament that the middle of the country is watching” Fox News.
Donald Trump backs off some campaign promises, reinforces others in ’60 Minutes’ interview
DENVER – Americans got their first look at what a Donald Trump White House will look like Sunday in an interview with “60 Minutes,” and the president-elect is already tamping down expectations for some of the promises he made during the campaign season.
Trump’s interview with Leslie Stahl was done last week and released Sunday. The two talked about the election, taxes, the Affordable Care Act, foreign policy, immigration and the economy, among other subjects. Continue reading