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1-13.5-902. Ballots and sample ballots – delivery – format

Statute

(1) (a) The designated election official of each local government using paper ballots shall provide printed ballots for the local government election. The official ballots shall be printed and in the possession of the designated election official at least thirty days before the election.

(b) In addition to the requirements of paragraph (a) of this subsection (1), sample ballots must be printed in the form of the official ballots and are subject to public inspection. The sample ballots must be printed upon paper of a different color from the official ballots. Sample ballots must be delivered to the election judges and posted with the instruction cards provided under section 1-13.5-906.

(2) Every ballot must contain the names of all duly nominated candidates for the offices to be voted for at that election, except those who have died or withdrawn, and the ballot must contain no other names. The names of the candidates for each office must be printed on the ballot without political party designation and without any title or degree designating the business or profession of the candidate. The names must be arranged by lot by the designated election official at any time prior to the certification of the ballot. The designated election official shall notify the candidates of the time and place of the lot drawing.

(3) The ballots must be printed so as to give to each eligible elector a clear opportunity to designate his or her choice of candidates, ballot issues, and ballot questions by a mark as instructed. Words may be printed on the ballot that will aid the elector, such as “vote for not more than one”.

(4) At the end of the list of candidates for each different office, there must be one or more blank spaces in which the elector may write the name of any eligible person not printed on the ballot who has filed an affidavit of intent to be a write-in candidate pursuant to section 1-13.5-305. The number of spaces provided shall be the lesser of the number of eligible electors who have properly filed an affidavit of intent to be a write-in candidate or the number of persons to be elected to the office. No such blank spaces shall be provided if no eligible person properly filed an affidavit of intent to be a write-in candidate.

(5) The names of the candidates for each office must be arranged under the designation of the office. The designated election official shall not print, in connection with any name, any title or degree designating the business or profession of the candidate. Each candidate’s name may include one nickname if the candidate regularly uses the nickname and the nickname does not include any part of a political party name.

(6) If no candidate is duly nominated and no person properly files an affidavit of intent to be a write-in candidate for an office, the following text must appear under the designation of the office: “There are no candidates for this office”.

(7) (a) Whenever the approval of a ballot issue or ballot question is submitted to the vote of the people, the ballot issue or question must be printed on the ballot following the lists of candidates. Ballot issues and ballot questions must be listed in the following order, as applicable: Issues to increase taxes, issues to increase debt, citizen petitions, and other referred measures.

(b) The ballot issue or question must be identified by the name of the local government submitting the ballot issue or question followed by a letter.

(8) (a) The extreme top part of each ballot must be divided by two perforated or dotted lines into two spaces, each of which must be not less than one inch in width, the top portion being known as the stub and the next portion as the duplicate stub. Upon each of said stubs nothing is to be printed except the number of the ballot, and the same number must be printed on both stubs. Stubs and duplicate stubs of ballots must both be numbered consecutively. There must be printed on the stub of an absentee ballot “Absentee Ballot Number […]”, and such stubs must be numbered consecutively beginning with number one. All ballots must be uniform and of sufficient length and width to allow for the names of candidates and the proposed questions to be printed in clear, plain type with a space of at least one-half inch between the different columns on said ballot. On each ballot must be printed the endorsement “official ballot for . . .”, and after the word “for” must follow the designation of the local government for which the ballot is prepared, the date of the election, and a facsimile of the signature of the designated election official. The ballot shall not contain any caption or other endorsement or number. Each designated election official shall use precisely the same quality and tint of paper, the same kind of type, and the same quality and tint of plain black ink for all ballots furnished by the designated election official at one election.

(b) A duplicate stub is not required for a ballot that is prepared for an independent mail ballot election pursuant to part 11 of this article.

Source: L. 2014: Entire article added, (HB 14-1164), ch. 2, p. 35, § 6, effective February 18. L. 2016: (8) amended, (HB 16-1442), ch. 313, p. 1268, § 8, effective August 10.

Editor’s note: Section 19 of chapter 313 (HB 16-1442), Session Laws of Colorado 2016, provides that changes to this section by the act apply to elections conducted on or after August 10, 2016.

Definition [Ballot issue]

A nonrecall,  citizen-initiated  petition  or legislatively-referred
measure which is authorized by the state constitution, including a question as defined in  sections 1-41-102 (3) and 1-41-103 (3), enacted in Senate Bill 93-98.

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 [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 [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 [Independent mail ballot election]

A mail ballot election that the governing body of a political subdivision, other than a school district, determines shall not be coordinated by the county clerk and recorder. C.R.S. § 1-7.5-103.

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.