Colorado Secretary of State’s Office Sends Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Election Rules

Denver, June 30, 2023 - The Secretary of State’s Office issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to consider preliminary draft rules to implement Senate Bill 23-276 (Modifications To Laws Regarding Elections) and make additional modifications to rules to ensure Colorado’s elections remain secure, transparent, and accessible.

This rulemaking will continue to ensure the highest level of security for Colorado’s voting system equipment, with clarifications around the requirements for video surveillance of both the voting system equipment and mail ballot drop boxes, while also directing enhancements of Colorado’s signature-verification process to achieve more consistency and transparency. This broad package of new and amended rules is part of the process of continuous improvement that the Secretary of State’s Office uses to ensure that Colorado has the most effective elections administration in the country.

The preliminary draft rules also suggest various changes to clarify definitions, remove outdated language, and make technical adjustments to Colorado’s election rules. Highlights of the proposed changes are detailed further below.

Maintaining High Levels of Surveillance and Security of Drop Boxes, Secure Areas, and Voting Equipment

• Proposed amendments to Rule 7.4.1 specify technical requirements for county clerks regarding video surveillance at drop box locations.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 20.4.2 clarify surveillance requirements for secure areas, including by establishing requirements for county clerks in the event of planned maintenance of video surveillance systems. Proposed new Rule 20.4.2(e) would require county clerks to submit a detailed plan to the Secretary of State’s Office, which must include security measures that the clerk will take to ensure the security of voting system components or secure areas. The plan must be reviewed and approved by the Secretary of State prior to the maintenance taking place.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 20.4.3 clarify access and security log requirements for locations where components of a voting system are stored.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 20.5.2(c)(3) clarify login requirements for election judges when accessing the voting system.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 20.5.4 clarify security requirements when transporting a voting system from a county election facility to another location, including a voter service and polling center. The proposed amendment would require county clerks to submit a detailed plan to the Secretary of State’s Office, which must include security measures that the clerk will take to ensure the security of the voting system components during transit. The plan must be reviewed and approved by the Secretary of State prior to transportation taking place.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 20.11.1 require that county clerks develop contingency plans which address an unexpected outage of video surveillance, as required by law.

Strengthening Signature Verification Rules

• Proposed new Rule 6.2.2 requires that county clerks review available data prior to assigning a judge to perform signature verification and not assign a judge to conduct signature verification if the judge has unexplained or irregular acceptance or rejection rates when reviewing signatures during prior elections.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 6.8 require that election judges assigned to signature verification successfully complete a training course provided by the Secretary of State’s Office every election. Clerks may provide additional training, if desired. Signature verification training was previously required once per two-year election cycle, and counties were previously permitted to provide their own, alternative training if approved by the Secretary of State’s Office.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 7.7.1 clarify the required process of initial- and second-level review of signatures by county clerks and election judges.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 7.7.8 establish a system by which election judges’ signature verification results will be monitored in real-time. Any judges with irregular or unexplained patterns of verification results can be required to retrain or be assigned to other duties.

Ensuring Proper Staffing by Bipartisan Teams of Election Judges

• Proposed amendments to Rule 6.1 assist county clerks with their planning for election judge needs by establishing dates when a county clerk must provide major parties with an estimate of the number of election judges they will need for each position for a two-year election cycle, including anticipated dates and times. The proposed amendments further clarify when a county clerk may utilize minor party or unaffiliated election judges.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 20.2 expands the background check requirement to include all election judges. Previously, background checks were only required if judges needed access to the statewide voter registration database, elector’s confidential or personally identifiable information, or voter registration applications or other list maintenance activities.

Setting New Licensing Requirements for Petition Entities

• Proposed amendments to Rule 15.2.1 and 15.2.2 concern new requirements to enhance accountability for petition entity license applications. The amendments require petition entity applications submitted after December 31, 2024, to submit the name, address, and signature of any petition circulators hired to circulate petitions within Colorado, as well as the petitions each circulator will circulate. Additionally, petition entities must affirm the designated agent has completed the Secretary of State’s circulator training and will provide all circulators with the same training. Entities must also affirm that they have not been found in violation of petition law or guilty of committing election fraud or other election offenses in other states.
• New rules 15.2.5 and 15.2.6 establish that petition entity licenses are only valid for two years from the date of approval as well as a new requirement that entity licenses must be updated no later than 20 days after a change to any information provided in the initial application.

Additional Notable Changes

• Proposed new Rule 2.5.5, proposed amendments to current Rule 2.9.2, and proposed new Rule 16.2.5 address the status of overseas and military voters when changing addresses or other registration information and when a county clerk may mail ballots to those voters.
• Proposed amendments to current Rule 7.2.10 and current Rule 7.2.16 clarify what an unaffiliated voter must do to receive the mail ballot of a participating minor party during a primary election, and the obligations of county clerks in this regard.
• Proposed new Rule 7.2.16 clarifies the requirements of a county clerk when coordinating a mail ballot election with a special district.
• Proposed amendments to current Rule 7.4.11 clarify intercounty ballot transfer requirements if an elector has delivered a ballot to a county in which they do not reside.
• Proposed amendments to current Rule 7.4.13 clarify the requirements of county clerks when tracking ballots delivered to or received from electors who are confined in a county jail.
• Proposed new Rule 7.17 creates new naming requirements for counties for the names of ballot races in their voting systems.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 8.10.2 clarifies when an election watcher is permitted to use a phone to send or receive text messages while watching elections activities.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 10.9 and 10.10 concern requirements of county clerks in performing recounts and of interested parties when requesting a permissive recount.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 15.1.4(d) add a standard by which a signature can be rejected on an initiative petition. Proposed amendments to Rule 15.1.4(e) clarifies criteria that must considered in order to reject a signature on a candidate petition.
• Proposed amendments to Rule 21.5.1 clarify what is required of voting system demonstrations, including a demonstration of the full functionality of the voter interface devices available for use with a ballot marking device and a demonstration of a voting session from beginning to end.

A public rulemaking hearing is scheduled for Thursday, August 3, 2023, at 1 p.m. to receive testimony concerning the preliminary draft of permanent rules. This hearing will be conducted in-person and via webinar. The in-person hearing will take place at the Secretary of State’s Office in the Red Rocks Conference Room. Online registration for the hearing can be found at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7739541944876240221. Public comment opportunities will be provided to all participants, whether in person on online.

Elections rulemaking hearing page.

Notice of rulemaking (PDF).

The public is also invited to send feedback to the Secretary of State’s Office regarding the rulemaking process. Those interested in participating can review the preliminary draft rules and submit written comments about the proposed permanent rules to SOS.Rulemaking@coloradosos.gov at any time prior to and during the hearing. All written comments will be added to the official rulemaking record.