U.S citizens are among those who received letters from Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler questioning their right to vote, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday.
The ACLU’s Colorado branch said the voters are among the nearly 4,000 people to whom Gessler sent letters this month asking that they voluntarily withdraw their registration or prove their citizenship.
“I was viscerally upset. You know like how when you feel in your stomach like you just got punched?” Veronica Figoli said about opening the letter. The Denver resident originally from Caracas, Venezuela, said she became a U.S. citizen in September 2011.
Democrats have criticized Gessler, a Republican, for sending the letters and have questioned his political motivations in a state that’s expected to be a presidential battleground.
The vast majority of registered voters who received letters were Democrats or independent voters. Of the nearly 4,000 letters, 1,566 went to Democrats, and 1,794 went to unaffiliated voters. Another 486 letters were sent to Republicans.