Colorado Voting Rights Act

The bill creates the Colorado Voting Rights Act (act) and modifies certain election-related statutes in 4 the following areas:

• Election and voting statutes Voter registration related to voters who are members of Indian tribes;
• Ensuring voter access to methods of selecting candidates for the general election;
• Voting-related services for Election and voting notices in facilities serving individuals with disabilities;
• Election-related language access; and
• Election-related data collection.

Creation of the act. The bill creates the act, which prohibits political subdivisions from:

• Taking any action that results in , will result in, or is intended to result in a material disparity between electors who are members of a protected race, color, or language minority group or other minority reporting group (protected class members) and other eligible electors in regard to voter participation, access to voting opportunities, or the opportunity or ability to participate in the political process (voter suppression);
• Enacting or employing any method of election that has the effect of, or is motivated in part by the intention of, disparately impairing the opportunity or ability of protected class members to participate in the political process, elect the candidates of their choice or otherwise influence the outcome of elections as a result of diluting the vote of protected class members (voter dilution); or
• Implementing, imposing, or enforcing a voting qualification or another prerequisite to voting based on an individual's actual or perceived gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation ; or
• Implementing, imposing, or enforcing an additional voting qualification or another prerequisite to voting based on an individual's confinement to a local jail, other than those eligibility qualifications that already exist.

An aggrieved individual or organization (aggrieved person) may file a civil suit alleging voter suppression; voter dilution; or an unlawful voting prerequisite based on gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation; or an unlawful voting prerequisite based on confinement to a local jail . The attorney general may investigate potential violations of the act and may file suit to enforce the act or may intervene in an aggrieved individual's or organization's civil suit. Except under specific circumstances, before filing suit, an aggrieved person or the attorney general must send a notification letter describing the alleged violation of the act to the political subdivision. The political subdivision is given 60 or 180 days to adopt a resolution providing for a solution to the alleged violation. Election and voting statutes Voter registration related to Indian tribes. The bill clarifies provisions related to voter registration and election access for Indian tribes, including valid identification for registration purposes. and the requirements for voter service and polling centers and ballot drop-off locations on Indian reservations Ensuring voter access to methods of selecting candidates for the general election. The bill requires the general assembly, the secretary of state, and each political party to ensure that primary elections, or any future alternative process by which voters select candidates for the general election, allow voters not able to attend in person to participate to the same extent as those voting in person, including requiring a process for voters to vote that does not require in-person voting. Voting-related services for Election and voting notices in facilities serving individuals with disabilities. The bill imposes a requirement on covered entities, defined as entities facilities that provide state-funded services primarily to individuals with disabilities to publicly display , in each building in which they serve clients, notices related to voting in advance of statewide general and primary coordinated elections. Election-related language access. The bill expands existing requirements for the creation of multilingual ballots from only applying to qualifying counties to also applying to qualifying municipalities. based on the Under current law, if a county meets certain requirements for the population or percentage of the voting-age population within the relevant jurisdiction who are minority language speakers and who speak English less than very well , a county clerk and recorder is required to provide multilingual ballots . The bill requires a municipal clerk to provide multilingual ballot access if the municipality has a population of at least 3,000 and the municipality exists partially or wholly within a county covered by the existing multilingual ballot requirements. Election-related data collection. The bill creates the statewide election database and information office (office) in the department of state. The office collects and maintains requires the secretary of state to collect, and maintain , and make publicly available data related to elections, including demographics, election results, and voting information. which the office secretary of state is required to make publicly available. After each election, political subdivisions are required to submit election-related information to the office secretary of state . The department of local affairs is also required to annually provide certain demographic information to the secretary of state. The office also provides assistance to political subdivisions, researchers, and members of the public related to the data it maintains, in addition to providing data to the attorney general for purposes of investigating potential violations of the act. For the 2025-26 fiscal year, $75,432 is appropriated to the department of state for use by the elections division for implementation of the bill.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)