Voter Registration
Registration Deadline: Colorado law allows you to register to vote through Election Day. Please note that how you register to vote will impact how you receive your ballot.
To receive your ballot by mail:
-Register to vote or update your voter registration online at www.GoVoteColorado.com through the 8th day before Election Day
-Submit an application through the mail, at a voter registration agency, or at a local driver's license examination facility through the 8th day before Election Day
-Submit an application through a voter registration drive no later than 22 days before Election Day.
If you miss the above deadlines, you may register in-person at a voter service and polling center in your county through Election Day.
Automatic Voter Registration
When an individual interacts with certain agencies, such as the DMV, they usually will provide information such as name, address, date of birth, etc. This information is then used to register that individual to vote in Colorado.
The elector’s county clerk will verify if they have a complete record to register the individual to vote. If the elector’s record is complete, the county clerk will send a notice to the elector that they are registered to vote. The elector can return the notice to either decline to be registered or to affiliate with a party. If the elector does not decline to be registered within 20 days after the notice is mailed and the form is not returned as undeliverable, the elector is then registered to vote.
Political Party Affiliation
During either the Presidential or June primary:
Voters affiliated with a major party: may cast a ballot for candidates of the party they are affiliated with.
Voters affiliated with a minor party: if there is a minor party contest those affiliated with that minor party may cast a ballot for those candidates.
Unaffiliated voters: An unaffiliated voter may cast a ballot for any one political party. If an unaffiliated voter returns a ballot with more than one political party, the ballot will be rejected and none of the votes will be counted. An unaffiliated voter who votes in a party's primary will remain unaffiliated. However, the primary that you vote in will be public record (but not how you voted).
Voter Registration Qualifications
Age: Are 16 years old, but you must be at least 18 on Election Day to vote
Citizenship: Must be a United States citizen
Residency: Must have resided in Colorado 22 days immediately before the election at which you intend to vote.
Felony Convictions: In Colorado, it is illegal to register to vote or cast a vote while serving a sentence of incarceration or detention for a felony conviction. Persons serving a sentence of parole may vote.
An Individual in jail awaiting trial or serving a sentence for a misdemeanor conviction has the right to register to vote and vote in any election. Individuals in these situations should contact their jail administrator to coordinate voter registration if they are not already registered.
For more information see the Voting and Conviction FAQ.
Obtaining a Voter Registration Form
Online: Colorado Online Voter Registration
In person: You can also register in person at:
-A Colorado Department of Motor Vehicle office when you apply for a driver's license, or update your driver's license information.
-Offices that provide public assistance, including offices that provide state funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to persons with disabilities.
-Recruitment offices of the armed forces of the United States.
-Any federal, state, local government, or nongovernment office that chooses to provide voter registration service or applications.
-A voter service and polling center.
-Registering through a voter registration drive.
By mail/in writing: You may mail, deliver, or scan and email your complete and signed form to your county clerk and recorder’s office. Mailed forms also accepted at Colorado Department of State Elections Division.
Verifying Your Voter Registration Status
Online: Colorado Online Voter Registration Verification
MAIL-IN BALLOT QUALIFICATIONS
Every voter now receives a mail ballot. If you want to vote at the polls, vote in-person at a voter service and polling center.
Military and Overseas Voters: Colorado citizens living outside the United States and all active military personnel absent from Colorado are eligible to register and vote by mail as UOCAVA voters. UOCAVA provisions also cover the spouses, civil union partners, and voting dependents of active military personnel absent from Colorado. An eligible elector can register to vote up to and on Election Day. But if you wish to receive a mail ballot, the application must be received by the designated election official by the close of business on the 7th day before the election. Please keep in mind that if you would like to receive the ballot by mail, 7 days may not be a sufficient amount of time to receive, vote, and return your ballot. Military and overseas voters can also request to have their ballots be sent by fax, email, or by downloading a ballot online. For more information click here.
SUBMITTING A MAIL-IN BALLOT
Your ballot must be received by your county elections office no later than 7:00 p.m. on Election Day. Voters are encouraged to drop off ballots at designated drop off locations, drop-box locations, or mail their ballots in time to be received by the county clerk before the polls close. Postmarks do not count; ballots must be in the hands of the county clerk by 7:00 PM on Election Day in order to be counted. Contact your county clerk and recorder for drop-off and drop-box locations.
If you are voting by mail for the first time, you may also need to provide a photocopy of your identification when you return your mail ballot. Click here for more accepted forms of identification.
VOTING ON ELECTION DAY
Voters who are in line at their polling location by 7:00 PM are allowed to vote no matter how long it takes for each person to cast his or her ballot.
All voters who vote in-person must provide identification. While there are many forms of acceptable identification, most voters find it convenient to bring their Colorado driver's license or Colorado ID. A Colorado ID is available at no cost to those who are eligible. For more information on obtaining a Colorado ID, please contact the Colorado Department of Revenue.
Under Colorado law, voters may get time off without loss of pay if they do not have sufficient time outside of regular working hours to vote. Please refer to Section 1-7-102 of the Colorado Revised Statutes for details.
PROVISIONAL VOTING
A provisional ballot is provided to a voter whose eligibility to vote is not immediately established on Election Day. Provisional ballots ensure that every qualified and registered voter can vote a ballot that will be counted on Election Day. The election official then evaluates the voter's eligibility after Election Day has passed to determine whether the provisional ballot should be counted. Click here for more information.
COLLEGE STUDENT VOTERS
College students that are residents of Colorado may keep their registration in their hometown and vote by mail.
Alternatively, if the student attends a college or university out-of-state and wishes to register to vote there, they should check that state's voter registration rules. Should the student change their voter registration to a different state, they are no longer eligible to vote in Colorado.
Additional Information
Deciding how to vote: https://votesmart.org
Polling Place: Click here to find locations.
Verifying Mail-In ballot status: Mail-In Ballot Status Verification
Election/HAVA Complaint Process: Click here for more information
The amendment would lower the number of years an organization must have existed before obtaining a charitable gaming license from five years to three years until January 1, 2025. After January 1, 2025, the amendment would allow the legislature to set in statute the length of time an organization must exist to obtain a charitable gaming license. Under the measure, managers and operators of gaming activities would be limited to earning minimum wage until July 1, 2024, at which time the provision limiting the compensation of managers and operators to the applicable minimum wage would be automatically repealed.
The bill creates the healthy school meals for all program (program) in the department of education (department) to:
Reimburse school food authorities that choose to participate in the program (participating school food authorities) for free meals provided to students who are not eligible for free or reduced-price meals under the federal school meals programs;
Provide local food purchasing grants to eligible participating school food authorities;
Provide funding to participating school food authorities to increase the wages or provide stipends for individuals employed to prepare and serve food; and
Provide assistance to participating school food authorities through the local school food purchasing technical assistance and education grant program.
The portion of the program that provides reimbursement for school meals begins operating in the 2023-24 budget year. The remaining portions of the program begin operating in the first full budget year after the state of Colorado begins participating in the federal demonstration project to use medicaid eligibility to identify students who are eligible for the federal school meals programs (demonstration project).
A participating school food authority must:
Provide free meals to all students enrolled in the public schools that the participating school food authority serves and that participate in the national school lunch program or national school breakfast program;
Provide to the department annual notice of participation; and
Maximize the amount of federal reimbursement by participating in the federal community eligibility provision to identify students who are eligible for the federal school meals programs.
The amount of reimbursement distributed pursuant to the program is equal to the federal free reimbursement rate multiplied by the total number of meals served minus any other federal or state reimbursement the school food authority receives for providing meals.
The bill requires the department to:
Participate in the federal community eligibility provision for the state as a whole, if that option is available; and
Apply to participate in the demonstration project.
Under the bill, a participating school food authority that creates a parent and student committee to advise on food purchasing (advisory committee) is eligible to receive a local food purchasing grant (grant) to purchase Colorado grown, raised, or processed products for school meals. Each eligible participating school food authority must comply with reporting requirements. The bill establishes the amount of the grants, limits on how the grant money may be spent, and the required membership of the advisory committee. The department must annually review a sample of the invoices for purchases made using grant money to ensure compliance with purchasing requirements.
The bill creates the local school food purchasing technical assistance and education grant program (grant program) under which a statewide nonprofit organization distributes grants to promote the purchase of Colorado grown, raised, or processed products by participating school food authorities and to assist participating school food authorities in preparing meals using basic ingredients rather than processed products. The nonprofit organization must report annually to the department concerning implementation of the grant program.
The department must submit to committees of the general assembly a biennial report concerning implementation of the program. The department must contract with an independent auditor to conduct a biennial financial and performance audit of the program. The report and the audit must include implementation of the program, implementation of the local food purchasing grants, use of the additional amount for increasing wages or providing stipends, and implementation of the grant program.
The bill directs the general assembly to appropriate annually, by line item in the annual appropriation bill, the amount necessary to implement the program, including a specified amount for the grant program.
Current law caps state income tax itemized deductions for taxpayers who have federal adjusted gross income of $400,000 or more at $30,000 for single filers and $60,000 for joint filers. The bill applies the cap to both itemized and standard income tax deductions for taxpayers who have federal adjusted gross income of $300,000 or more and lowers the cap to $12,000 for single filers and $16,000 for joint filers. The amount of revenue generated by the changes to the cap must be appropriated to fund the program. If the program is repealed, the changes to the cap no longer apply.
The bill takes effect only if it is approved by the voters at the November 2022 general election. This approval is a voter-approved revenue change that allows the state to retain and spend all revenue generated by the changes to the cap on state income tax deductions.
The Colorado constitution allows a qualifying senior or a veteran who has a service-connected disability rated as a 100% permanent disability to claim a property tax exemption for 50% of the first $200,000 of actual value of the qualifying senior's or veteran's owner-occupied primary residence. The concurrent resolution extends eligibility for the exemption to the surviving spouse of a United States armed forces service member who died in the line of duty or veteran whose death resulted from a service-related injury or disease as determined by the United States department of veterans affairs, if the surviving spouse is a recipient of dependency indemnity compensation awarded by the United States department of veterans affairs pursuant to applicable federal law.
Pursuant to House Bill 20-1026, effective January 7, 2025, the counties of Douglas, Elbert, and Lincoln will move from the eighteenth judicial district to a newly created twenty-third judicial district. Under the state constitution, district judges serve the term to which they were elected but may serve in another judicial district if the other district encompasses the county of the judge's residence. Under this concurrent resolution, the governor would designate judges serving in the eighteenth judicial district on January 6, 2025, to serve the remainder of their terms in the twenty-third judicial district.
INITIATED STATUTE TO REDUCE THE STATE INCOME TAX RATE FOR ALL TAXPAYERS.
The initiative would dedicate a portion of revenues (one tenth of one percent) from existing income tax revenues and allocate funds to housing projects, including "affordable housing financing programs that will reduce rents, purchase land for affordable housing development, build assets for renters, support affordable homeownership, serve persons experiencing homelessness, and support local planning capacity."
The initiative would create a new fermented malt beverage and wine retailer license to allow grocery stores, convenience stores, and other businesses that are licensed to sell beer to also sell wine and conduct wine tastings.
The initiative would allow retail establishments licensed to sell alcohol for off-site consumption to offer a delivery service or provide for a third-party alcohol delivery service.
Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning legal regulated access to natural medicine for persons 21 years of age or older, and, in connection therewith, defining natural medicine as certain plants or fungi that affect a persons mental health and are controlled substances under state law; establishing a natural medicine regulated access program for supervised care, and requiring the department of regulatory agencies to implement the program and comprehensively regulate natural medicine to protect public health and safety; creating an advisory board to advise the department as to the implementation of the program; granting a local government limited authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of providing natural medicine services; allowing limited personal possession, use, and uncompensated sharing of natural medicine; providing specified protections under state law, including criminal and civil immunity, for authorized providers and users of natural medicine; and, in limited circumstances, allowing the retroactive removal and reduction of criminal penalties related to the possession, use, and sale of natural medicine?
The initiative would incrementally increase the number of retail liquor store licenses an individual may own or hold a share in, as follows:
up to eight licenses by December 31, 2026;
up to 13 licenses by December 31, 2031;
up to 20 licenses by December 31, 2036; and
an unlimited number of licenses on or after January 1, 2037.
The bill is a referred measure that will, if approved by the voters of the state at the 2022 general election, require:
The director of research of the legislative council of the general assembly to include a table in the fiscal summary for any initiated measure that would either increase or decrease the individual income tax rate. The table must have 4 columns as follows:
A column identifying 8 income categories;
A column identifying the current average income tax owed by taxpayers in each income category;
A column identifying the average income tax owed by taxpayers in each income category if the initiated measure were to pass; and
A column identifying the difference between the average income tax owed by taxpayers in each income category if the initiated measure were to pass and if the initiated measure were not to pass.
The ballot title for a measure that either increases or decreases the individual income tax rate to include the table created by the director of research of the legislative council of the general assembly for the measure's fiscal summary.