Referred Measure: Amendment K
Help keep Colorado’s elections safe and accurate
This November, Colorado’s County Clerks are asking for an additional week to build, review, proof, translate and test hundreds of different ballot types needed for each election.
As Colorado’s ballots continue to get longer and more complicated, county clerks need additional time to ensure that the ballots voters get are accurate.
During major elections, County Clerks have managed ballots that include as many as 104 different state and local candidates and state and local issues for voters to decide.
County Clerks will build hundreds of ballots in a general election so that each voter gets only those questions and candidates that apply to the address at which they are registered to vote. For some counties, this can mean more than 600 different ballot versions.
Clerks are asking for just one extra week of time to do their jobs accurately.
Here’s a look at what it takes for county clerks to build all ballots needed for each election and the tight timeline within which they must complete their work.
How do County Clerks develop ballots for each election?
The process for building each election’s ballot is complicated and requires time to ensure that ballots are accurate for each of Colorado’s roughly 3.9 million registered voters. If clerks miss even one of these initial deadlines below, it makes it difficult to get ballots tested and mailed to registered voters on time. Even if they follow this timeline, it does not allow time for testing the military and overseas ballots, which must be sent out 23 days early.
Clerks have roughly 4 days to complete the multistep process necessary to carry out an election and mail ballots to military and overseas voters on time.
In the first 12 hours
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office certifies all statewide questions and candidates that have qualified for the ballot, and the specific order in which those questions and candidates should appear on the ballot.
Local governments and districts including multiple school districts, fire districts, water districts, city councils, county commissions and others submit their qualified questions and candidates. Clerks must then program the election management database to correctly associate voters with the correct statewide and local initiatives, taxing questions, candidate races, local water, fire, school and other district questions. These associations must be made for each voter based on the address at which they are registered to vote and quality control processes must be executed perfectly.
In the next 24 hours
County Clerks then build and design the ballot in the voting system that each voter will receive based on where they live. This means County Clerks will build and design hundreds of ballots in a general election so that each voter gets only those questions and candidates that apply to the address at which they are registered to vote. For some counties, this can mean more than 600 different ballot versions.
In the next 24 hours
County Clerks then edit each possible ballot version voters will receive. Local governments and districts including multiple school districts, fire districts, water districts, city councils, and county commissions must also proof their ballot content. Depending on the county size and other factors, some ballots can grow to include as many as 105 different issues and candidates.
In the next 24 hours
Ballots must be sent out for translation into multiple languages as required.
Draft ballots are sent to a company that prints the individual ballots. These ballots are then returned to the clerk’s office so they can be scanned and tested in the election equipment that will ultimately count the votes.
Issues found during the testing must then be corrected, reprinted and new tests carried out. When all tests are complete, all ballot types are printed and prepared for mailing to all registered voters.
