1-13.5-1010. Challenge of absentee voters’ ballots – rejection – record
Statute
(1) The vote of any absentee voter may be challenged in the same manner as other votes are challenged, and the election judges may determine the legality of such ballot. If the challenge is sustained or if the judges determine that the self-affirmation accompanying the absentee voter’s ballot is insufficient or that the voter is not an eligible elector, the envelope containing the ballot of the voter shall not be opened, and the judges shall endorse on the back of the envelope the reason for rejection. When it is made to appear to the election judges by sufficient proof that any absentee voter who has marked and forwarded a ballot has died, the envelope containing the ballot of the deceased voter shall not be opened, and the judges shall make proper notation on the back of such envelope. If an absentee voter’s envelope contains more than one marked ballot, none of the ballots in that envelope may be counted, and the judges shall note on the envelope the reason that the ballots were not counted. If an absentee voter’s envelope does not contain all pages of a ballot, only the marked and returned pages shall be counted. Election judges shall certify in their returns the number of absentee voter’s ballots cast and counted and the number of such ballots rejected.
(2) All absentee voters’ envelopes, ballot stubs, and absentee voters’ ballots rejected by the election judges in accordance with subsection (1) of this section must be returned to the designated election official. All absentee voters’ ballots received by the designated election official after 7 p.m. on the day of the election, together with those rejected and returned by the election judges as provided in this section, must remain in the sealed identification envelopes.
(3) If an absentee voter’s ballot is not returned or if it is rejected and not counted, the fact shall be noted on the record kept by the designated election official. Such record is open to public inspection under proper regulations.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.