1-13.5-1002. Application for absentee voter’s ballot – delivery – list
Statute
(1) (a) (I) Requests for an application for an absentee voter’s ballot may be made orally or in writing. The application may be in the form of a letter. The application may request that the applicant be added to the permanent absentee voter list for the local government.
(II) Applications for absentee voters’ ballots shall be filed in writing and be personally signed by the applicant or a family member related by blood, marriage, civil union, or adoption to the applicant. If the applicant is unable to sign the application, the applicant shall make such applicant’s mark on the application, which must be witnessed in writing by another person.
(b) The application must be filed with the designated election official not later than the close of business on the Tuesday immediately preceding the next local government election in which the absentee voter wishes to vote by absentee voter’s ballot.
(2) (a) Upon timely receipt of an application for an absentee voter’s ballot, the designated election official receiving it shall examine the records of the county clerk and recorder or county assessor, as appropriate, to ascertain whether or not the applicant is registered and lawfully entitled to vote as requested.
(b) If the person is found to be so entitled, the designated election official shall deliver, as soon as practicable but not more than seventy-two hours after the blank ballots have been received, an official absentee voter’s ballot, an identification return envelope with the affidavit or the envelope properly filled in as to address of residence as shown by the records of the county clerk and recorder, and an instruction card. The identification return envelope must state “Do not forward. Address correction requested.” or any other similar statement that is in accordance with United States postal service regulations. The delivery must be made to the applicant either personally in the designated election official’s office or by mail to the mailing address given in the application for an official absentee voter’s ballot.
Source: L. 2014: Entire article added, (HB 14-1164), ch. 2, p. 38, § 6, effective February 18. L. 2016: (1)(b) and (2)(b) amended, (HB 16-1442), ch. 313, p. 1268, § 9, effective August 10.
Annotator’s note. The following annotations include cases decided under former provisions similar to this section.
Absentee voter statutes must be strictly construed, and a voter who wishes to cast such a ballot must comply exactly with all applicable statutory requirements. Jardon v. Meadowbrook-Fairview Metro. Dist., 190 Colo. 528, 549 P.2d 762 (1976).
Findings that voters came within the application requirements not disturbed on review. Israel v. Wood, 98 Colo. 495, 56 P.2d 1324 (1936).
1. Definition for United States
Used in the territorial sense, means the several states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. C.R.S. § 1-8.3-102.
2. Definition for Return envelope
An envelope that is printed with spaces for the name and address of, and a self-affirmation to be signed by, an eligible elector voting in a mail ballot election, that contains a secrecy envelope and ballot for the elector, and that is designed to allow election officials, upon examining the signature, name, and address on the outside of the envelope, to determine whether the enclosed ballot is being submitted by an eligible elector who has not previously voted in that particular election. C.R.S. § 1-7.5-103.
3. 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.
4. Definition for State
A state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. C.R.S. § 1-8.3-102.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.