Brennan Center for Justice

This student voting guide explains the laws for the state of Colorado. If you wish to vote from your school address, check the student voting guide for the state where you attend school. If you want to cast an absentee ballot in your home state, check the student voting guide for that state.

The Brennan Center is committed to giving students as much information as possible to help you exercise your constitutional right to vote. More than ever in recent history, changes to voting laws are being implemented in ways that can affect your ability to make your vote count. In addition to the content you will find in this Student Voting Guide, a report that we issued last year documents a number of these changes and we continue to track passed and pending voting law changes here. While we are working to give you up-to-date information, we urge you to be proactive! In order to ensure you have all the information you need before casting your vote, you should also check with your state and local election officials for information about additional requirements or regulations.

This voting guide was last updated in August 2013.

Registration

You may register to vote by appearing in-person at a county clerk and recorder’s office, or at a voter service and polling center starting 15 days prior to and including on Election Day.[1] When you register to vote in person in Colorado, you may be required to answer some questions related to your residency, including about your intent to abandon residency elsewhere.[2]

You can register online if you have a Colorado driver’s license or identification card. You can find more information about Colorado’s online registration procedures here. Online registration applications must be submitted no later than 8 days prior to Election Day.[3] Otherwise, the Colorado voter registration application is available online here. You can print this form, fill it out, and deliver, mail, email, or fax it to your county clerk. Mail-in registration applications must be postmarked no later than 22 days prior to Election Day.[4]

If you are already registered in Colorado but have moved to a different precinct, you may update your address by appearing at a county clerk and recorder’s office, or a voter service and polling center in your new county of residence up to and including on Election Day.[5] You may also update your new address information online, or by mailing a change of address form, to be received no later than 8 days before the election.[6]

You can register to vote if you will be 18 by the date of the next election, are a citizen of the United States, and have lived in the precinct in Colorado in which you intend to vote for 22 days immediately preceding the election.[7] Otherwise qualified 16- and 17-year-old residents can pre-register to vote, even if not 18 by the next election, but may not vote in an election until they turn 18.[8]  If you have been convicted of a felony, it may impact your ability to vote. If you think you might be affected, you should contact local election officials.

Residency

At School. In practice, Colorado students can choose to register either at home or at school, depending on which one they consider their principal home.[9] Students can establish residency in Colorado if they have a present intention to remain at their Colorado school address for the time being, and they intend to make it their principal home.[10] Any other interpretation of the residency laws is unconstitutional.

Your principal home is where you have a fixed place to stay, and the place where, whenever you are away, you intend to return. The formal test for residence in Colorado is an objective test:[11] in considering whether your chosen address is your proper voting residence, elections officials can look to where you are employed or have other income sources or business pursuits, the residence of your family, where your things are located, or if you own any real estate.[12]

On August 16, 2013, the Colorado Secretary of State adopted temporary rules advising voters and election workers that a student is likely a resident if “he or she is a student attending college in Colorado but has the present intent to make the district his or her home after completing school,” and is “likely not a resident” if “he or she is an out-of-state student attending college in Colorado but has no intent to make the district his or her permanent home.”[13] While this temporary rule is currently in force, it remains unclear how election officials will interpret and apply it.  However, election officials may not constitutionally require students to establish more than a present intent to make Colorado their principal home. This new temporary rule will be in force for no longer than 120 days from August 16, 2013, unless it is made into a permanent rule through the regular rulemaking process.[14]  

At Home. Students who lived in Colorado before attending college and wish to establish or keep their voting residency at their parents’ Colorado address should have no problem doing so, unless they have already registered to vote in another state.[15] While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of residency in Colorado, some judges or officials might view it as such. If you have established residency in another state and are moving back to Colorado with the intent to reside here, you will have to follow the normal registration procedures to re-register at home.

Voting in Colorado may be considered a declaration of residency, potentially making you subject to other laws that govern state residents.

Challenges to Residency. Students have the right to cast a ballot as a resident of Colorado regardless of whether you pay in-state or out-of-state tuition. Any challenge made solely on the basis of your student or tuition status is invalid. When you register, the clerk is obligated to deny your registration if he or she cannot determine your residency.[16] After you register, your eligibility can be challenged by another voter up to sixty days before an election. A hearing will be held in front of the county clerk, and the person challenging you must prove you are not eligible. You can also appeal the clerk’s decision to court within three days.[17]

At the polls, your eligibility to vote can be challenged by poll workers, other voters, or partisan poll watchers.[18] If you take an oath and sign an affidavit that you are in fact eligible to vote, you will be able to vote normally.[19] If you do not take the oath, you will have to vote with a provisional ballot.[20] The ballot will be counted if the local elections official determines that you are an eligible voter.[21]

Identification

Everyone who votes in person, whether on Election Day or by early voting, must show ID.[22] A student ID from a Colorado school satisfies the ID requirement if it has your name and photograph.[23] The following forms of ID are also accepted: Colorado driver’s license; Colorado state ID card; U.S. passport; employee photo ID card issued by the U.S., Colorado, or local government within Colorado; a pilot’s license; a military ID card with photo; a certified copy of a U.S. birth certificate; a Medicare or Medicaid card; or a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that has your name and address on it.[24] If your ID has an address on it, that address must be in Colorado.[25] If you cannot show ID, you will have to cast a provisional ballot.[26]

Voting by Mail and in Person

You may vote by mail or in-person. Mail ballots are sent to all active registered voters.[27] You may return your voted ballot by mail or hand-deliver it to the office of the County Clerk and Recorder, to a voting service and polling center, or to a drop off location.[28] Your completed ballot must be received by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day.[29] First-time voters who register by mail whose identity is not already verified have to submit a copy of their ID with their mail ballot.[30] Neither your application nor your ballot has to be notarized or witnessed. You may also choose to cast your vote in person at a voter service and polling center.[31] For general elections, voter service and polling centers are open at least 15 days up to and including Election Day.[32] You should check with your county elections office for the exact dates, times, and locations.

Last Updated in August 2013