Elections - Digest of Bills

Digest of Bills - 2006

ELECTIONS

S.B. 06-62 Absent uniformed services electors - overseas electors - voting by electronic means. Directs the secretary of state to promulgate rules that specify the procedures by which an absent uniformed services elector, a nonresident overseas elector, or a resident overseas elector may receive and return an absentee ballot by electronic means. Defines "electronic means" as facsimile transmission, but authorizes the secretary of state to establish procedures by which an absent uniformed services elector may vote by electronic mail when another more secure voting method is not available or feasible.

APPROVED by Governor April 24, 2006
EFFECTIVE August 7, 2006
NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

S.B. 06-170 Voter registration - identification - certification of election officials - voter registration drives - vote centers - reimbursement of election costs - voting accuracy and security procedures - election judges - electronic provisional ballots - reporting returns by precinct - electioneering at polling place - county home rule charter elections - appropriation. Requires a person registering to vote in person or by mail to provide a Colorado driver's license or state-issued identification card number if the person has a driver's license or identification card. Requires a person registering to vote who does not have a driver's license or identification card to state that he or she does not have these documents and to provide the last four digits of his or her social security number. Requires a person registering to vote who does not have a social security number to state that he or she does not have a social security number. States that the voter registration form shall contain a statement that:

● A person registering to vote must comply with the requirement to provide a driver's license, identification card, or social security number;

● A person who is qualified to vote in the state but does not have a driver's license, identification card, or social security number may still register to vote; and

● The secretary of state will assign an identifying number to a person who does not have a driver's license, identification card, or social security number for voter registration purposes.

States that the county clerk and recorder shall not register a person who does not comply with the requirements to answer questions about the person's eligibility to vote and to provide a driver's license, identification card, or social security number if the person has such a number.

Requires a person registering to vote by mail who is registering to vote for the first time in the county, or in the state if the statewide voter registration system is operating, to:

● Submit with the registration form a copy of identification, the person's driver's license, or the last 4 digits of the person's social security number; or

● Submit a copy of identification with the person's mail ballot or absentee ballot.

Increases the time for an election official to complete certification requirements from one to 2 years.

Increases the amount of time a voter registration drive organizer has to deliver a voter registration application collected from a person to the proper county clerk and recorder from 5 to 7 business days; except that an application signed less than 30 days before the registration deadline shall be delivered within 5 business days. Creates separate criminal penalties for negligent and intentional failure by a voter registration drive organizer to deliver a voter registration application to the proper county clerk and recorder by the deadline. Reduces the amount of the civil penalty for negligently failing to deliver a voter registration application from $500 to $50 for each business day of violation. States that a voter registration drive organizer that has been fined 3 times or more for negligent failure to deliver a voter registration application to the proper county clerk and recorder is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or one year in prison, or both. States that a voter registration drive organizer that intentionally fails to deliver a voter registration application to the proper county clerk and recorder is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $500 to $5,000 or 6 to 18 months in prison, or both.

Requires a designated election official to determine the number, location, and manner of operation of vote centers after a public comment period of at least 15 days and a public hearing. Directs the secretary of state to adopt guidelines for the number, location, and manner of operation of vote centers. Extends the date after which a county using vote centers must report election results by precinct from January 1, 2006, to January 1, 2008.

Increases the amount that the state reimburses counties for the cost of conducting elections in which a state ballot issue or state ballot question is on the ballot from 45¢ to 80¢ per active registered elector in counties with 10,000 or fewer active registered electors and from 35¢ to 70¢ per active registered elector in counties with more than 10,000 active registered electors.

Requires a designated election official to submit procedures to ensure voting accuracy and security to the secretary of state for review. Directs the secretary of state to notify the designated election official of the approval or disapproval of the procedures within 15 days.

Allows a state employee to take administrative leave with pay in order to serve as an election judge, without additional compensation for service as an election judge, unless the employee's supervisor determines that the employee's attendance at work on election day is essential.

Allows for the use of an electronic voting device to cast a provisional ballot if the device is certified by the secretary of state for that purpose. Gives the designated election official discretion to determine whether electors casting provisional ballots shall use the electronic voting device or paper provisional ballots.

Clarifies that when an elector casts a provisional ballot at a polling place outside the precinct where the elector is registered to vote, the elector's votes for federal and statewide offices for which the elector is eligible to vote shall be counted.

Beginning with the 2008 general election, requires that early and absentee voting results be reported by precinct, unless fewer than 10 early and absentee votes were cast and counted in any precinct within a political subdivision.

States that a respectful display of the American flag is not electioneering for purposes of the prohibition on electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place on election day.

Deletes the provision stating that an appropriation of moneys from the department of state cash fund or the general fund to reimburse county clerk and recorders for costs related to conducting elections shall not be used in calculating the fees of the department.

States that if a coordinated or general election is to be held within 60 days after a board of county commissioners receives a proposed county home rule charter, the special election on the adoption of the charter shall be held as part of the coordinated or general election.

Appropriates $814,534 from the department of state cash fund to the department for implementation of the act.

APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2006
EFFECTIVE June 6, 2006

S.B. 06-228 Scientific and cultural facilities district - reasonable costs related to a coordinated election. Permits the scientific and cultural facilities district (district) to deduct an amount necessary to pay the district's actual or anticipated reasonable costs related to a coordinated election from its sales and use tax collections prior to making the program-related distributions currently required by law. Limits the amount that the district is required to pay a county or a city and county for its share of a coordinated election to the district's reasonable costs related to a coordinated election.

Defines the term "reasonable costs related to a coordinated election" to mean the amount that the district owes a county or a city and county for the district's share of the costs of a coordinated election, subject to the limitation that such amount shall not exceed the total county or city and county election costs multiplied by 1/2 of the sum of the weighted population and weighted ballot averages.

APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2006
EFFECTIVE June 6, 2006

H.B. 06-1012 Absentee ballots. Permits an eligible elector who wishes to receive an absentee ballot by mail to apply for the absentee ballot no later than the close of business on the 7th day before the election, instead of the 11th day as currently required by law.

Clarifies that the self-affirmation on a return envelope shall be categorized as incorrect and a ballot shall not count if, after receiving notice that the signatures on an absentee ballot do not match signatures on file, the eligible elector fails to enclose a copy of his or her identification along with a confirmation form.

Permits an eligible elector who receives an emergency absentee ballot by electronic transfer to return the ballot in the same manner. Establishes procedures and requirements for ballots received in this manner.

APPROVED by Governor March 6, 2006
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2006

H.B. 06-1051 Recall elections - petitions - resignation - date of election - absentee ballots - nomination of successor - canvass of votes. Lengthens the time after the initial filing of a recall petition in which the designated election official must notify the committee circulating a recall petition and the incumbent of the sufficiency or insufficiency of a petition to 30 working days after the petition is filed.

Clarifies that the designated election official must mail a copy of a protest to a recall petition and a notice of hearing on the protest to the recall committee within 24 hours after a written protest has been filed. Increases the time following the filing of a recall petition that a protest hearing must be concluded to 55 days after the petition is filed.

Specifies that for an officer whose recall is sought that offers a resignation, the recall election shall not be called if the officer offers a resignation prior to the date on which the sufficiency of the recall petition has been sustained.

Changes when a governing body must set a recall election to not less than 30 nor more than 60 days after the time for filing a protest has passed and all protests have been decided. Modifies when a recall election must be held as part of a general election by specifying that the recall election shall be held as part of either a general or coordinated election if the general or coordinated election is held not less than 50 nor more than 90 days after the time for filing a protest and all protests have been finally decided.

Reduces the time that absentee ballots are available before a recall election to 25 days before the election.

Specifies that nomination petitions for candidates to succeed the officer being recalled may be submitted for approval to the designated election official at any time after the recall petition form has been approved. Authorizes candidates to begin circulating the nomination petition upon approval of the petition by the designated election official.

Increases the time that the canvass board has to complete an abstract of votes to the 17th day following a recall election. Extends the time for sending or delivering the certified abstract of votes cast to the secretary of state or governing body to no later than the close of business on the 18th day after the recall election.

Makes the act contingent on the approval by the voters of Senate Concurrent Resolution 05-005.

APPROVED by Governor April 13, 2006
EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2007
Note: Senate Concurrent Resolution 05-005, enacted at the First Regular Session of the Sixty-fifth General Assembly, will be voted on by the people at the general election in November 2006.

H.B. 06-1142 Student election judges - compensation. Authorizes a county clerk and recorder or designated election official, in their discretion, to pay student election judges the same compensation received by an election judge, but, in any case, not less than 75% of the compensation received by an election judge for service provided as an election judge.

APPROVED by Governor March 17, 2006
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2006

H.B. 06-1191 Recounts required - multiple candidates to be elected in contest. For elections in which there is more than one person to be elected, requires a recount if the difference between the votes cast for the candidate who won the election with the least votes and the candidate who lost the election with the most votes is less than or equal to one-half of one percent of the votes cast for the candidate who won the election with the least votes.

APPROVED by Governor March 31, 2006
EFFECTIVE August 7, 2006
NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

H.B. 06-1198 Provisional ballots cast outside county of residence. Clarifies that when a voter casts a provisional ballot in a county other than the voter's county of residence, the ballot shall not be counted, unless:

● The voter moved from one county in the state to another county before the close of registration but failed to register to vote in the new county, in which case the voter may complete an emergency registration form or cast a provisional ballot in the new county of residence; or

● The voter moved from one county in the state to another county after the close of registration and does not vote in the county where registered, in which case the voter may cast a provisional ballot in the new county of residence and the voter's votes for federal and statewide offices and statewide ballot issues and ballot questions shall be counted.

APPROVED by Governor March 31, 2006
EFFECTIVE August 7, 2006
NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.