In accordance with section 24-34-802(1), C.R.S., the Department of State shall comply with the accessibility standards established by the Governor's Office of Information Technology (OIT). The Department is currently working toward making all information and technology accessible.

This document describes the plan for providing equally effective access for documents, webpages, and technology that is currently not accessible for all users.

1. Inaccessible technology/documents:

• TRACER, the Department's campaign financial disclosure website
  • The website vendor indicates known accessibility barriers
  • Accessibility currently imposes an undue burden
• Responses to Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests
  • To be compliant with the required time for response under section 24‐72‐203 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, accessibility currently imposes an undue burden
  • Documents and pages are usually not in active use
• Embedded audio and video on Secretary of State website
  • Audio or video has no closed captioning or transcription
  • Accessibility currently imposes an undue burden
• Voter registration form
  • The form has known accessibility barriers
  • Accessibility currently imposes an undue burden
• Daily ballot return figures in PDF beginning Wednesday, October 23, 2024, via the Secretary of State’s Newsroom
  • The PDF documents of data charts are created by a technology platform with known accessibility issues
  • To create alt text for each data chart would take multiple hours a day and would impose an undue burden
• Documents and pages that are not in active use
• Documents and pages that impose an undue burden, would require fundamental alteration, or whose alteration would pose a direct threat

Undue burden is considered an action that requires significant financial, technical, or administrative difficulty or expense. Contractual, legal, regulatory, or technical constraints prevent the modification of the program, service, or activity.

A fundamental alteration is something that would change the essential nature of the entity's programs or services.

Direct threat is defined as a significant risk to the health or safety of others that cannot be eliminated by a modification of policies, practices or procedures, or by the provision of auxiliary aids or services.

2. Individuals likely affected by above accessibility issues:

• Elected officials, candidates for office, political committees, small donor committees, political parties, issue committees, recall committees, independent expenditure committees, and federal groups (federal PACs and 527s)
• Members of the public
• Employees

3. Process for the Department to provide an alternative means for accessible use/content:

• TRACER:
  • In order to access or file a document in TRACER, individuals should contact the Campaign Finance Compliance team by phone at 303-894-2200 (dial 3 then 1) or email at cpfhelp@coloradosos.gov. The Department will access or file documents on the individual’s behalf.
  • The Department of State is acquiring a new vendor that will provide an accessible experience. The Department expects that a new website will be in use by the end of 2025.
• Responses to Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) Requests
  • When the Department of State provides a timely response to a CORA request, the response will indicate that the documents will be made accessible upon request. The Department will respond to the accessibility request within three business days and provide information as to when the accessible documents will be produced on a case-by-case basis. The Department will prioritize accessibility requests for CORA documents and consider whether there are extenuating circumstances regarding timeliness of access.
  • Requesters who require accessible documents may indicate so in their initial CORA requests for faster service.
•  Videos:
  • For closed captioning or transcriptions of videos, individuals should contact accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will assign a staff member to provide a transcription of the relevant audio or video. The Department will respond to the request within three business days and provide information as to when the transcription will be produced on a case-by-case basis. The Department will consider whether there are extenuating circumstances regarding timeliness of access. When complete, the audio or video will be provided to both the requester and updated on the Department’s website.
  • The Department of State is in the process of requesting funding for closed captioning and transcription services for all live videos through a decision item in the Department’s annual budget request. The Department anticipates implementation of technology on its website that will provide closed-captioning and transcription services for imbedded audio and video by July 1, 2025.
• Voter registration form (PDF):
  • A conforming alternative accessible version can be accessed on the voter registration website when a voter provides a verifiable Colorado Driver’s License number or last four digits of a social security number.
  • The Department of State is working with the Center for Civic Design to develop an accessible voter registration PDF. The Department anticipates the new form to be disseminated in Spring 2025.
• Daily ballot return figures in PDF
  • A conforming alternative accessible version with all daily ballot return numbers can be accessed at the Secretary of State’s Newsroom in Excel format
  • The Department of State intends to develop technology or find a new vendor who can provide the data charts PDF in an accessible format prior to the next election, slated for November 2025
• Colorado Constitution (PDF) and Title 1, C.R.S. Election law (PDF):
  • Links to the Colorado Constitution and Title 1 on the “Election Laws, Rules, & Resources” page of the Colorado Secretary of State website redirects the reader to PDFs hosted by the Legislature of Colorado. The Secretary of State’s Office does not have access to those PDFs and, therefore, cannot maintain them. These PDFs are easily searchable and so they provide a good resource to the citizens of Colorado.
  • A conforming alternative accessible version of the Colorado Constitution and Title 1 can be accessed on the “Election Laws, Rules, & Resources” website by clicking on the links “Colorado Constitution (Accessible)” and “Title 1, C.R.S. Election Law (Accessible).”
• For a document or page not in active use:
  • To request an accessible document or webpage not in active use, an individual may fill out the online contact form or contact accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will respond to the request within three business days.
  • The new accessible document or page will be provided to both the requester and updated on the Department’s website.
• For a document that is classified as an undue burden (for example, a scanned-in image of a filing):
• • To request an accessible document or webpage which is an undue burden, an individual may fill out the online contact form or contact accessibility at accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will respond to the request within three business days with a determination of whether the Department can assist with the request, and how it will do so, if possible.