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Colorado > Colorado Electoral Code > Mail Ballot Elections

1-7.5-105. Preelection process

Overview of Statute

The county clerk and recorder or designated election official responsible for conducting an election that is to be by mail ballot.

Statute

(1) The county clerk and recorder or designated election official responsible for conducting an election that is to be by mail ballot pursuant to section 1-7.5-104 (1) shall send a proposed election plan for conducting the mail ballot election to the secretary of state no later than ninety days prior to a nonpartisan election or, for any mail ballot election that is coordinated with or conducted by the county clerk and recorder, no later than one hundred twenty days prior to the election. The proposed plan may be based on the standard plan adopted by the secretary of state by rule.

(1.3) The election plan required under subsection (1) of this section must include, at a minimum:

(a) The address and hours of operation for each voter service and polling center;

(b) The address and hours of operation for each ballot drop-off location, including the location of each drop box;

(c) A throughput analysis for each designated voter service and polling center that addresses:

(I) The number of electors anticipated at the center during its operation;

(II) If the center was used in a previous election, the wait times and number of electors that used the center in the previous election; and

(III) The number of election judges, check-in stations, printers, and other equipment that will be in use at the center;

(d) A copy of the mail ballot packet that will be used in the election;

(e) A copy of the signature card that will be used for in-person voting in accordance with section 1-7-110;

(f) Copies of all forms that will be available or provided to electors to cure deficiencies or errors during the election with the county-specific information filled in; and

(g) Such other information as the secretary of state may require.

(1.5) Repealed.

(2) (a) The secretary of state shall approve or disapprove the written plan for conducting a mail ballot election, in accordance with section 1-7.5-106, within fifteen days after receiving the plan and shall provide a written notice to the affected political subdivision.

(b) Repealed.

(c) The secretary of state may promulgate rules concerning the submission and approval of election plans.

(3) The county clerk and recorder or designated election official shall supervise the distribution, handling, and counting of ballots and the survey of returns in accordance with rules promulgated by the secretary of state as provided in section 1-7.5-106 (2) and shall take the necessary steps to protect the confidentiality of the ballots cast and the integrity of the election.

(4) No elector information shall be delivered in the form of a sample ballot.

Source: L. 92: Entire article R&RE, p. 753, § 10, effective January 1, 1993.L. 93: (1) amended, p. 1423, § 83, effective July 1.L. 94: (1) amended, p. 1166, § 40, effective July 1.L. 95: (1) amended, p. 840, § 61, effective July 1.L. 2007: (1) and (2) amended, p. 922, § 1, effective May 17.L. 2009: (1.5) added and (2) amended, (HB 09-1015), ch. 259, p. 1184, § 5, effective August 5.L. 2010: (1) and (2)(a) amended, (HB 10-1116), ch. 194, p. 834, § 19, effective May 5; (2)(b) amended,(HB 10-1422), ch. 419, p. 2062, § 2, effective August 11.L. 2012: (1) and (1.5)(a) amended, (HB 12-1292), ch. 181, p. 686, § 32, effective May 17.L. 2013: (1) and (3) amended and (1.5) and (2)(b) repealed, (HB 13-1303), ch. 185, p. 726, § 84, effective May 10. L. 2019: (1) amended and (1.3) and (2)(c) added, (HB 19-1278), ch. 326, p. 3029, § 40, effective August 2.

Editor’s note: This section is similar to former § 1-7.5-105 as it existed prior to 1992.

Cross references: In 2013, subsections (1) and (3) were amended and subsections (1.5) and (2)(b) were 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 [Mail ballot packet]

The packet of information provided by the designated election official to eligible electors in the mail ballot election and to persons preregistered to vote pursuant to section 1-2-101(2) who will be eighteen years of age on the date of the mail ballot election. The packet includes the ballot, instructions for completing the ballot, a secrecy envelope or sleeve, and a return envelope. C.R.S. § 1-7.5-103.

Definition [Mail ballot election]

An election for which eligible electors receive ballots by mail and vote by mailing those ballots, depositing the ballots at, as applicable, drop-off locations or voter service and polling centers, or, as applicable, by voting at a voter service and polling center. The term does not include an independent mail ballot election. C.R.S. § 1-7.5-103.

Definition [Political subdivision]

A governing subdivision of the state, including counties, municipalities, school districts, and special districts. C.R.S. § 1-7.5-103.

Definition [Designated election official]

The secretary of state, a county clerk and recorder, or other election official as provided by article XXI of the state constitution. C.R.S. § 1-12-100.5.

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 [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 [Secretary]

The Colorado secretary of state. C.R.S. § 1-1.5-102.

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