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Colorado > Colorado Electoral Code > Notice Of And Preparation For Elections

1-5-402. Primary election ballots

Overview of Statute

County clerk and recorders will prepare separate ballots for each party at least 32 days before a primary. All official ballots will be printed as prescribed in § 1-5-407 and § 1-5-408, except the clerk will list the name of the political party across the top of the ballot. The order of candidates must accord with the guidance provided in the statute.

Statute

(1) No later than thirty-two days before the primary election, the county clerk and recorder shall prepare a separate ballot for each political party. The ballots shall be printed in the following manner:

(a) All official ballots shall be printed according to the provisions of sections 1-5-407 and 1-5-408; except that across the top of each ballot shall be printed the name of the political party for which the ballot is to be used.

(b) The positions on the ballot shall be arranged as follows: First, candidates for United States senator; next, congressional candidates; next, state candidates; next, legislative candidates; next, district attorney candidates; next, other candidates for district offices greater than a county office; next, candidates for county commissioners; next, county clerk and recorder candidates; next, county treasurer candidates; next, county assessor candidates; next, county sheriff candidates; next, county surveyor candidates; and next, county coroner candidates. When other offices are to be filled at the coming general election, the county clerk and recorder, in preparing the primary ballot, shall use substantially the form prescribed by this section, stating the proper designation of the office and placing the names of the candidates for the office under the name of the office.

(2) Repealed

Source: L. 92: Entire article R&RE, p. 707, § 8, effective January 1, 1993. L. 93: (1)(a) amended,1766, § 6, effective June 6. L. 99: IP(1) amended, p. 774, § 46, effective May 20. Initiated 2016: (2) added, Proposition 108, effective upon proclamation of the Governor, December 27, 2016. See L. 2017, p. 2825. L. 2018: (2) repealed, (SB 18-233), ch. 262, p. 1608, § 13, effective May 29.

Editor’s note: (1) This section is similar to former § 1-6-401 (2) as it existed prior to 1992. (2) This section was amended by initiative in 2016.(3) Section 13 of Proposition 108 (p. 2827), Session Laws of Colorado 2017, provides that the measure changing this section applies to any primary election conducted after December 27, 2016.

 

Cross references: For order of names on a primary ballot, see § 1-4-103; for designation of candidates by party assembly, see § 1-4-601; for designation of party candidates by petition, see § 1-4-603; for conduct of primary elections, see part 2 of article 7 of this title.

Cross references: (1) For order of names on a primary ballot, see § 1-4-103; for designation of candidates by party assembly, see § 1-4-601; for designation of party candidates by petition, see § 1-4-603; for conduct of primary elections, see part 2 of article 7 of this title. (2) For the declaration of the people of Colorado in Proposition 108, see section 1 on p. 2822, Session Laws of Colorado 2017.

ANNOTATIONS

Annotator’s note. The following annotations include a case decided under former provisions similar to this section.

Holding that ineligible candidate’s name removed from ballot by best means available. In a contest involving the eligibility of a party designee in a primary election, where the party is found to be ineligible, is not error for a trial court to order such person’s name eliminated from the ballot by the best means available, rather than requiring reprinting of the ballots, or to direct the county clerks not to certify absentee ballots already cast for the ineligible candidate. Anderson v. Kilmer, 134 Colo. 270, 302 P.2d 185 (1956).

Holding that in ordering that the name of an ineligible candidate be stricken from the ballots by blocking out, by printing, or by striking out with a colored pencil is not in violation of the provision that there shall be no other printing or distinguishing marks on the ballot except as specifically provided. Anderson v. Kilmer, 134 Colo. 270, 302 P.2d 185 (1956).

Definition [United States]

Used in the territorial sense, means the several states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. C.R.S. § 1-8.3-102.

Definition [Political party]

Any group of registered electors who, by petition or assembly, nominate candidates for the official general election ballot. “Political party” includes affiliated party organizations at the state, county, and election district levels, and all such affiliates are considered to be a single entity for the purposes of this article, except as otherwise provided in section 7. Section 2(13) of article XXVIII of the state constitution.

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.

Definition [Candidate]

Any person who seeks nomination or election to any state or local public office that is to be voted on in this state at any primary election, general election, school district election, special district election, or municipal election. “Candidate” also includes a judge or justice of any court of record who seeks to be retained in office pursuant to the provisions of section 25 of article VI. A person is a candidate for election if the person has publicly announced an intention to seek election to public office or retention of a judicial office and thereafter has received a contribution or made an expenditure in support of the candidacy. A person remains a candidate for purposes of this article so long as the candidate maintains a registered candidate committee. A person who maintains a candidate committee after an election cycle, but who has not publicly announced an intention to seek election to public office in the next or any subsequent election cycle, is a candidate for purposes of this article. Section 2(2) of article XXVIII of the state constitution.

Cases

Colorado Cases

Case Name: Gessler v. Doty

Citation: 272 P.3d 1131 (Colo. App. 2012)

Year: 2012

Case URL: https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/d141e8d8079e38d604b330ba95912b3f

Case Summary: Holding that county could not decline to comply with the statutory requirement that the county provide drop-off boxes for mail-in ballots at every polling place on election day.

Case Name: Anderson v. Kilmer

Citation: 302 P.2d 185 (1956)

Year: 1956

Case URL: https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/07dadc684de4792f787f71ef5b143044

Case Summary: Holding that where candidate was first registered as a Republican in the books of the county clerk on April 29, 1956, and primary election was held September 11, 1956, such individual was ineligible for designation as a candidate.

Out-of-State Cases

Federal Cases

Regulations & Guidance