Skip to content

El Paso

Ask Wayne W. Williams the Clerk and Recorder of El Paso County how this Happens (and he will answer)

Wayne W. Williams is the Clerk and Recorder of El Paso County, Colorado.

His employee was at a grocery store looking to register voters who would support Romney. You can contact Wayne W. Williams by phone at 719.520.6202 or via email at [email protected]. I have an email into him and I’m very curious how he views this.

EDIT: Here’s the email I got from Wayne W. Williams

She is not our employee. Thanks for contacting us.

Please see our posted comments to the video:

Both parties can and do prescreen, but all completed voter registrations must be delivered to the Clerk & Recorder, which likely is why she said she was working for the office. Wayne W. Williams, El Paso County Clerk & Recorder

waynewwilliams<http://www.youtube.com/user/waynewwilliams>

*

Just to set the record straight, neither this young lady nor any of the individuals involved in the Obama and Romney voter registration drives work for the Clerk & Recorder. Wayne W. Williams, El Paso County Clerk & Recorder.

waynewwilliams<http://www.youtube.com/user/waynewwilliams>

We have asked the poster of the video to remove the inaccuracies but she has declined.

Wayne Williams

JG:

Okay I understand that but the young lady on the video says she works for you. Are folks who register voters obligated to register everyone? Is there some level of training involved? Is she being paid by the Romney campaign? Is this an abuse of privilege or something that both parties do?

Thanks so much for your forthright answers.

WWW (kinda awesome initials if you ask me):

You’re welcome.

I believe that she was flustered and only remembered that it must be turned in to our office.

In Colorado, a VRD (voter registration drive) must turn in every form that they receive back.  They can choose, however, to whom they give a form.  Both parties engage in prescreening in various forms.

Training is required.  I don’t know who is paying her; other than I do know it is not the County.

Wayne

 

EDIT (8:19 pm)

A press release is sent out

 

El Paso County Clerk Responds to YouTube Video

September 23, 2012—Colorado Springs, CO–Yesterday a YouTube video was posted in which an individual claimed to be registering voters on behalf of the El Paso County Clerk & Recorder’s Office. In this video the young lady also stated she was working to register voters that were likely to vote for the candidate she supported. The young lady in this video is not an employee of the Clerk & Recorder’s Office and her statements regarding working for the County Clerk’s Office are inaccurate.

The El Paso County Clerk & Recorder’s Office does not conduct partisan voter registration drives and it is not affiliated with any partisan voter registration drive. All registration forms obtained by such voter registration drives, however, must be submitted to the Clerk & Recorder, which may be why the young lady made the error.

“The statement made in this video is both unfortunate and inaccurate. My office does not and will not engage in partisan voter registration. It is the duty of the Clerk’s office to ensure that elections are conducted in a fair and honest manner, this includes allowing any one to register to vote regardless of their political party affiliation,” said Clerk & Recorder Wayne Williams.

Our office has reached out to the campaign involved and requested that they clarify this information with their volunteers. They have responded and have clarified the matter to their volunteers to avoid this happening again in the future. We also have asked the poster of the video to remove the inaccurate assertion that the individual is an El Paso County employee, but she has refused to do so.

“We want to remind everyone who is legally eligible to register to vote by the October 9th deadline. The best and easiest way to register is online at GoVoteColorado.com. Registering online ensures your registration is accurate and received by the deadline,” said Williams.