1-6-104. Appointment of election judges by county clerk and recorder and designated election officials
Overview of Statute
County clerk and recorders will appoint election judges for each precinct in a county during elections coordinated by their office. Appointed judges will serve for two years beginning on the last Tuesday in May in even-numbered years. The appointment will end on the last Monday in May of the next even-numbered year. The county clerk and recorder may appoint an election judge to serve in a precinct of the county other than the precinct in which the election judge resides. Should the major political parties provide a list with an insufficient number of recommended election judges, the county clerk and recorder may fill vacancies from the lists provided by minor political parties and unaffiliated voters who have offered to serve. The county clerk and recorder may also appoint student election judges depending on the number of vacancies for election judges in elections coordinated by the county clerk and recorder. These student judges may also serve precincts outside of where the student judge lives.
Statute
(1) For each election coordinated by the county clerk and recorder, the county clerk and recorder shall appoint election judges for each location where election activities are occurring.
(2)The county clerk and recorder may appoint an election judge to serve in a county other than the county in which the election judge resides.
(3) If, at the time the county clerk and recorder appoints election judges, the list of recommended election judges submitted in accordance with section 1-6-102 contains an insufficient number of names for a major political party’s share of the total number of election judges as required in section 1-6-109, the designated election official shall appoint any additional election judges necessary from among the persons recommended by minor political parties in accordance with section 1-6-103.5 and the unaffiliated voters who have offered to serve as election judges in accordance with section 1-6-103.7.
(4) For each election coordinated by the county clerk and recorder, the county clerk and recorder may appoint one or more student election judges that satisfy the requirements contained in section 1-6-101 (7) to serve as an election judge, and shall designate the locations where election activities are occurring in which the student election judge shall serve based upon the number of qualified students and vacancies in the number of available positions for election judges throughout the county.
Source: L. 92: Entire article R&RE, p. 725, § 8, effective January 1, 1993.L. 98: Entire section amended, p. 576, § 4, effective April 30.L. 99: (3) amended, p. 161, § 13, effective August 4.L. 2000: (4) added, p. 1334, § 2, effective July 1.L. 2002: (3) amended, p. 1632, § 10, effective June 7. L. 2018: Entire section amended, (SB 18-233), ch. 262, p. 1609, § 17, effective May 29.
Editor’s note: This section is similar to former § 1-5-101 as it existed prior to 1992.
Cross references: For removal of election judges, see § § 1-6-119 and 1-6-120.
ANNOTATIONS
Annotator’s note. The following annotations include a case decided under former provisions similar to this section.
Holding that election judges have both judicial and ministerial duties to perform. People ex rel. Griffith v. Bundy, 107 Colo. 102, 109 P.2d 261 (1940).
Holding that such judicial conclusions are not subject to review by mandamus. People ex rel. Griffith v. Bundy, 107 Colo. 102, 109 P.2d 261 (1940).
Holding that the actual count and determination of election results is a duty of election judges, and their disposition of disputes as to count or the result of a ballot is judicial. People ex rel. Griffith v. Bundy, 107 Colo. 102, 109 P.2d 261 (1940).
Preclearance requirements of Voting Rights Act, changes in appointment of election judges, see Foreman v. Dallas County, Texas, 117 S.Ct. 2357 (1997).
- Cross-References:
- Election Day
- Election judges
- Regulation & Duties of Election Officials
1. Definition for 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.
2. Definition for 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.
3. Definition for 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.
4. Definition for 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.
5. Definition for 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.
6. Definition for 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.
Cases
Colorado Cases
Case Name: People ex rel. Griffith v. Bundy
Citation: 109 P.2d 261 (Colo. 1941)
Year: 1941
Case URL: https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/f6946b60692aae0ae8381c0364976121?query=109%20P[...]
Case Summary:
The court agreed with the county canvasser boards and the election commission. The mandamus petition filed by the losing candidate failed to allege that the county canvasser boards or the election commission had acted fraudulently, dishonestly or in bad faith in reporting the results of the election. The acts of the county canvasser boards and the election commission in allegedly counting ballots that should not have been counted were judicial conclusions that, even if erroneous, could not be reviewed by means of a mandamus proceeding. Disputes about election results were properly decided by contest proceedings as opposed to mandamus proceedings.
Case Name: MacGuire v. Houston
Citation: 717 P.2d 948 (Colo. 1986)
Year: 1986
Case URL: https://www.ravellaw.com/opinions/c6f1a38338c9a332b2efa45ac15ba940
Case Summary: The district court ruled that the statute restricting the opportunity to serve as an election judge to persons who have affiliated with one of two major political parties did not violate the plaintiff's freedom of speech and association or her right to equal protection of the laws. We affirm the ruling of the district court.
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.