Safe, Accurate, Fair Elections: Colorado Nationally Considered A 'Gold Standard'

“I had to take time off work on election day — the only day you could vote,” former Mississippi resident Tressa Guynes recalled while standing in line for hours to cast her vote. “It was not easy to vote there; that’s why Mississippi had a low turnout.”

Since moving to Colorado in 2012, Guynes no longer finds it inconvenient to cast her ballot. After registering to vote in the state, she receives her ballot in the mail, sits down at the kitchen table and researches candidates and issues as she marks her choices. “I love our system of voting in Colorado,” says Guynes, who is now the Montrose County Clerk and Recorder. “As I’ve learned the processes I see how secure it is. There is so much accountability.”

Left to right: Bobbie Gross, Mesa County Clerk and Recorder; Brandi Bantz, election division director; Terry Porter, election judge.

In 2018, The Washington Post called Colorado’s election system the “gold standard” model and a national leader for election security. Colorado’s elections have only grown more accessible and secure since then.

During Colorado elections, all ballot boxes are under camera video surveillance 24/7, and the footage is retained for 25 months. All election staff and election judges — including those who transport paper ballots for tabulation — must pass criminal background checks. Election workers must also take an oath and attend extensive training. Plus, election workers must sign in and sign out when entering ballot processing rooms to ensure a documented chain of custody.

Additionally, election judges always work in bipartisan teams. Ballots are never left alone with one person. “A big part of the Colorado process is a bipartisan team of election judges at every station,” Guynes says. “Where adjudication is involved, it has to be bipartisan. That’s a law in Colorado.”

Two years ago, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed HB22-1273 into law, which makes it a crime to threaten or harass election officials. “It’s also now a crime to compromise election equipment,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold notes. “I’m always working to increase access and security.”

In 2022, Governor Polis also signed SB22-153, which makes it a felony to tamper with voting equipment or knowingly publish confidential information about the system. The law also requires key card access and video surveillance for voting systems.

Secretary Griswold increased the number of drop boxes to 417 across the state. And she initiated a new automatic voter registration program that has led to more than 620,000 new registered voters.

Same-day registration is allowed in Colorado — another convenience to encourage people to exercise their right to vote. “So, if you moved and didn’t get around to updating your address — you can still do it the day of election,” says Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Amanda Gonzalez. “That’s huge.”

Montrose County Clerk and Recorder Tressa Guynes

All registered voters receive a ballot in the mail, which can be dropped off at the election center or any of the ballot boxes around town. Unaffiliated voters receive ballots from both parties — Republican and Democrat — but can vote only one of the ballots.

To ensure a returned ballot is from its intended eligible voter, bipartisan teams compare the signature on the envelope with the person’s signature on file — from prior elections, voter registration or from a driver’s license. If the signatures don’t match, a letter is sent to the voter asking them to “cure,” the signature. The system prevents voter fraud, while reducing the number of rejected ballots.

Another new program is TXT2Cure, which allows voters to use a smartphone to fix any discrepancies found in their signatures. Those without smartphones can always come to the office to cure their ballot, as well.

In 2020, Secretary Griswold rolled out a statewide ballot tracking program, called BallotTrax, where voters can learn the status of their ballot. Colorado voters have the option to sign up to be notified when their ballot has been mailed to them, when it’s been received by the election’s office, and after their signature has been verified on the returned envelope — another security feature. Voters can sign up to track their ballot at ballottrax.coloradosos.gov/ voter.

There’s also a set of judges — one Republican, and one Democrat — who determine voter intent when a ballot is unclear, says Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Bobbie Gross. Like when a bubble is filled in, but there’s a mark on another choice. In that case the ballot is sent to adjudication by a bipartisan team to determine the voter’s intent.

“Before every election we do a logic and accuracy test,” to ensure election equipment is working properly and is accurately counting votes as marked, she says. And after elections, election judges appointed by each major party conduct a risk limiting audit that compares randomly selected voted paper ballots to the electronic version to ensure the votes match.

“Colorado’s model has done an excellent job helping people have access to the ballot, to vote their ballot, and have that ballot counted accurately,” Gonzalez says. “Our overall goal is to make sure every eligible voter can participate. For our democracy to work, voting needs to be free, fair and accessible.”

For those who prefer to vote in-person, there are several options. “Our in-person, votercentered model also means you can vote at any vote center in your county,” Gonzalez notes.

You can also vote outside your home county if you happen to be out of town on election day. When it comes to state and federal candidates and issues, you can cast your ballot at any voting center in the state. Except for local issues — they must be voted on in your home county.

Gross says she’s all about transparency. “We have processes open to the public to view,” she explains. “I want people to call and ask questions. We set up times for people to come in and see everything.” They can watch election judges as they bring in collected ballots, and sort and process them. People can also attend a class through the Secretary of State’s office to become a poll watcher. “Then the poll watcher can observe any process we have,” she adds. “They just can’t interfere.”

Clerk Gross’s office has gone beyond what is required by law to appease some Mesa County residents’ concerns about the accuracy of voting machines. She and her staff are redacting all identifying information on ballots, and then putting them online so members of the public can count the votes themselves. “It’s very timeconsuming, but it shows transparency in our election system,” Gross says.

Logic and accuracy tests comparing hand counts to electronic tallies have shown “if there’s a discrepancy, 100% of the time it’s human error [in hand counting],” Guynes says.

Colorado’s system is considered the gold standard because of all these processes that include verifying signatures, providing opportunities to cure ballots, offering sameday voter registration, bipartisan processes for handling ballots,” says Mesa County election judge Terry Porter. “There are so many opportunities made available for people to vote.”

Originally published in the Fall 2024 issue of Spoke+Blossom.