Bernie Sanders, Ralph Nader and the Colorado County Clerks Association make strange bedfellows. What could a Democratic Socialist, Green/Independent, and majority Republican organization possibly have in common? They all possess a fierce commitment to voting rights and democracy and, thanks to the CCCA, Colorado has been propelled to the forefront of state voter access and modernization efforts.
By permitting online voter registration (at govotecolorado.com) and being one of only three states in the nation (Oregon and Washington are the others) to have mail-in ballots for all elections, Colorado has something to teach other states and the federal government. For Coloradans, Nov. 8 is no longer a day to vote but a deadline by when ballots must be returned. With ballots being mailed the week of Oct. 17, we have three weeks to make more thoughtful decisions, cast our vote and, if necessary, visit a voting service center for help.
Colorado distinguishes itself from Oregon and Washington by being the only state that replaced polling places with service centers in all 64 counties in proportion to a county’s population. These centers offer same-day voter registration, address changes, replacement ballots, the opportunity to vote in person and ADA access for people with disabilities. Service centers provide an additional location to the 24-hour drop boxes to drop ballots, are open weekdays and hold some Saturday hours.
This is all because the CCCA, a Democratically controlled Legislature and Democratic governor in 2013 passed HB 1303: The Colorado Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act. With it, Coloradans’ voting options and access, as it should, have expanded considerably. When citizens of other states face voter registration deadlines and have only one day to vote — a Tuesday and work day — our voting options and access in Colorado are much greater than in other states.
Critics of Colorado’s election reforms suggested HB 1303 would result in election fraud and millions of dollars in increased costs to taxpayers. That has not materialized. George Brauchler, a Republican and Arapahoe County’s district attorney, told this year’s CCCA conference participants that there is a minuscule amount (parents signing ballots for college-based children, for example) to “no voter fraud” in Colorado thanks largely to the bipartisan verification committees written in to HB 1303. Technological advancements, which identify in real time if an individual is eligible to vote and has already cast a ballot, have also helped.
Kim Percell, also a Republican and Montezuma County Clerk and Recorder since 2014, confirmed this and the findings of The Pew Charitable Trust’s 2016 report, “Colorado Voting Reforms: Early Results,” that says the 2013 election overhaul has resulted in greater efficiency, increased voter participation and an improved citizen experience. Percell said that because the clerk’s office no longer must staff 11 polling places with five or six judges at each location or print an uncertain number of three different ballots (early voting, absentee and polling place), her office has seen a 50 percent reduction in expenses, which benefits taxpayers.
The next step should be for the federal government to institute automatic voter registration at birth or for newly nationalized citizens, as Sanders and Nader have proposed and Colorado’s county clerks would likely support.
Colorado, in 1893, was one of the first states to give women the right to vote. As we approach November, we should appreciate the bipartisan and continued forward-thinking efforts of our elected officials to advance democracy and make it easier for Coloradans to vote.