New voter law

ALAMOSA — During the last legislative session, a bill was passed that may affect the Alamosa County Clerk’s Office.

The Modifications to Uniform Election Code increases access to Voter Service & Polling Centers, according to Secretary of State Jena Griswold. One part of this new law requires ballot drop-off boxes on any college campus with student enrollment over 2,000. It also states that the Monday before and Election Day, the clerk’s office has to have a voting center available for students.

According to Melanie Woodward, Alamosa County clerk, she is not sure if the law will affect her office. When she checked with Adams State University, their enrollment was under the 2,000-student limit.

Because this new law won’t kick in until the 2020 election, Woodward said ASU will use the 2019 enrollment numbers.

A second law that went into effect is more interesting than have any effect on county government.

The Clean Campaign Act was designed to clean up money in elections. It requires SuperPACs to disclose funding sources and special interest groups can no longer high money through shell organizations. Another part of the law prevents all “foreign nationals, foreign corporations, and foreign countries from spending money on any type of political communication or contributing to, or controlling, any type of campaign finance committee in the state.” It also requires corporations to disclose they paid for any communication and also requires “Paid for by” disclaimers on communications to voters from any committee, including online communications.