StampsA new bill sponsored by liberals (H.B. 1237) would require the Secretary of State to reimburse election administrators for pre-paid postage on ballots in all elections.  That means that every election from dog catcher to the presidential election in 2016 would have the business and nonprofit filers, which must file with the Secretary of State’s office, offset the cost of stamps.  Do we even need to say it?  Apparently so.

BUY A F&@%ING STAMP FOR YOUR BALLOT.

The bill for this in the Secretary of State’s office would be astronomical.  Here are a few numbers to illustrate this point.  During the 2012 presidential election, 2.6 million people cast their ballots. With everyone receiving a mail ballot with pre-paid postage and, say, 70% return their ballot by mail, that would cost the Secretary of State’s office $1,055,600. That’s even before factoring in the primary election. And, what if Denver has a city election followed by a runoff election? All told, this could be more than $2 million per year on the backs of businesses and non-profits. Ouch.

Of course, the budget at the Secretary of State’s office is approximately $20 million, which means that a $2 million increase would be a whopping 10% increase in expenditures for the office.  Not to mention, this is a slap in the face to the NFIB and its current lawsuit against the state for using business filings fees to fund elections, violating TABOR.

Without mincing words, this is a $2 million tax increase on businesses and non-profits. This will be a tough bill for representatives in tough districts (see Rep. Kagan) to explain away during the 2016 campaigns.