DENVER (AP) -- Democrats rejected a GOP proposal to cancel voter registrations of people believed not to be U.S. citizens.
The bill would have required election officials to check voter rolls against national and state immigration databases to verify citizenship. Election officials would then have hearings for people to show proof of citizenship, or have their registration canceled.
Democrats say eligible voters could be disenfranchised because the databases are not reliable.
A Democratic-led House committee rejected the bill Wednesday. The bill was a response to Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler's effort last year to find noncitizens on voter rolls. Out of nearly 4,000 suspected noncitizens, Gessler's office says federal records showed that the citizenship of 441 was in question.
Gessler's critics have questioned the accuracy of that data and believe the numbers are much lower.
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