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Colorado > Colorado Electoral Code > Qualifications And Registration Of Electors

1-2-216. Change of address

Overview of Statute

Following a move within the state, eligible voters may change their voter registration either by mail, in person, or through the online voter registration system. The voter must provide the new residence address, mailing address if different from the residence address, old address, printed name, birth date, last four digits of the voter’s social security number (per the discretion of the voter) and a signature with an accompanying date. The county clerk and recorder must accept all signed forms, and also must provide assistance to any eligible voter unable to write. Attestation by another person on a prescribed form or personal letter may also suffice if the eligible voter does not submit the form in person.

Eligible voters may also submit preemptive change of address forms declaring, under penalty of perjury, a new address where the voter will be living at the time of voting. These applications can be made in-person at the county where the voter resides, online through the registration system, or by mail. Changes made online must be submitted no later than eight days prior to an election, and the voter’s county clerk and recorder must receive applications sent by mail no later than eight days prior to an election. Election judges must also allow the registered voter to cast a ballot for their current residence.

Statute

(1) Any eligible elector who has moved within the state may have his or her residence changed on the registration record by submitting a letter or form furnished by the county clerk and recorder, either by mail, in person, or through the on-line voter registration system established pursuant to section 1-2-202.5. The letter or form for the change must include the elector’s new residence address, mailing address if different from the residence address, old address, printed name, birth date, last four digits of the elector’s social security number, if the elector wishes to state them, and signature and the date.

(2) Any address change made on the same form or personal letter as a change or withdrawal of affiliation or name change shall be accepted by the county clerk and recorder if the form or personal letter is signed indicating that the elector intended to make the change or withdrawal indicated on the form or in the personal letter.

(3) Any eligible elector who is unable to write may request assistance from the county clerk and recorder, and the county clerk and recorder shall sign the form, witnessing the elector’s mark, or the elector may have his or her mark attested to by any other person on a prescribed form or personal letter, if the request is not made at the office of the county clerk and recorder.

(4) (a) Any eligible elector may complete a change of address form stating, under penalty of perjury, that the elector moved before the election and that, on the day of the election, the elector will be living at the new address in the new precinct. Such change of address forms must be submitted as follows:

(I) By appearing in-person at a voter service and polling center or clerk and recorder’s office in the county in which the elector resides, at any time during which the voter service and polling center or office is open;

(II) By submitting, on or before the eighth day before an election, an electronic change of address form through the on-line voter registration system established pursuant to section 1-2-202.5; or

(III) By submitting by mail a change of address form that is received by the elector’s county clerk and recorder no later than the close of business on the eighth day before any election.

(b) The election judges shall allow the registered elector to cast the ballot for their current residence.

(c) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2013.)

(5) Repealed.

 

Source: L. 92: Entire article R&RE, p. 651, § 2, effective January 1, 1993.L. 93: Entire section amended, p. 1399, § 18, effective July 1.L. 94: (1) amended, p. 1152, § 8, effective July 1; (1) and (4) amended, p. 1758, § 17, effective January 1, 1995.L. 95: (4) amended, p. 823, § 12, effective July 1.L. 96: (1) amended, p. 1736, § 14, effective July 1.L. 97: (4)(a) and (5) amended, p. 473, § 7, effective July 1.L. 99: (4)(a) amended, p. 758, § 8, effective May 20.L. 2005: (3) amended, p. 1395, § 7, effective June 6; (3) amended, p. 1430, § 7, effective June 6.L. 2007: (4)(c) amended, p. 1776, § 5, effective June 1.L. 2009: (1) amended, (HB 09-1216), ch. 165, p. 728, § 1, effective August 5; (4)(a) amended, (HB 09-1018), ch. 158, p. 682, § 1, effective August 5.L. 2010: (4)(a) amended, (HB 10-1116), ch. 194, p. 829, § 3, effective May 5.L. 2012: (4)(a) amended, (HB 12-1292), ch. 181, p. 677, § 4, effective May 17.L. 2013: (1) and (4) amended and (5) repealed, (HB 13-1303), ch. 185, p. 692, § 15, effective May 10.

 

Editor’s note: (1) This section is similar to former § 1-2-215 as it existed prior to 1992.

(2) Amendments to subsection (1) by House Bill 94-1286 and House Bill 94-1294 were harmonized.

Cross references: In 2013, subsections (1) and (4) were amended and subsection (5) was repealed by the “Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act”. For the short title and the legislative declaration, see sections 1 and 2 of chapter 185, Session Laws of Colorado 2013.
Definition [State]

A state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. C.R.S. § 1-8.3-102.

Definition [Title]

A brief statement that fairly and accurately represents the true intent and meaning of the proposed text of the initiative.

Definition [Ballot]

(a) A federal write-in absentee ballot;

(b) A ballot specifically prepared or distributed for use by a covered voter in accordance with this article; or

(c) A ballot cast by a covered voter in accordance with this article.

(2) “Covered voter” means:

(a) A uniformed-service voter defined in paragraph (a) of subsection (9) of this section who is a resident of this state but who is absent from this state by reason of active duty and who otherwise satisfies this state’s voter eligibility requirements;

(b) An overseas voter who, before leaving the United States, was last eligible to vote in this state and, except for a state residency requirement, otherwise satisfies this state’s voter eligibility requirements;

(c) An overseas voter who, before leaving the United States, would have been last eligible to vote in this state had the voter then been of voting age and, except for a state residency requirement, otherwise satisfies this state’s voter eligibility requirements; or

(d) An overseas voter who was born outside the United States, is not described in paragraph (b) or (c) of this subsection (2), and, except for a state residency requirement, otherwise satisfies this state’s voter eligibility requirements if the last place where a parent, legal guardian, spouse, or civil union partner of the voter was, or under this article would have been, eligible to vote before leaving the United States is within this state.

C.R.S. § 1-8.3-102.

Definition [Person]

Any natural person, partnership, committee, association, corporation, labor organization, political party, or other organization or group of persons. Section 2(11) of article XXVIII of the state constitution.

Definition [Section]

A bound compilation of initiative forms approved by the secretary of state, which shall include pages that contain the warning required by section 1-40-110 (1), the ballot title, the abstract required by section 1-40-110 (3), and a copy of the proposed measure; succeeding pages that contain the warning, the ballot title, and ruled lines numbered consecutively for registered electors’ signatures; and a final page that contains the affidavit required by section 1-40-111 (2). Each section shall be consecutively prenumbered by the petitioner prior to circulation.

Definition [Election]

Any election under the “Uniform Election Code of 1992” or the “Colorado Municipal Election Code of 1965”, article 10 of title 31, C.R.S. C.R.S. § 1-7.5-103.

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