Today Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law the Freedom from Intimidation in Elections Act, HB25–1225. The law allows voters, election officials, and election workers to sue anyone who intimidates, threatens, or coerces them and recover money damages or obtain restraining orders. It also presumes that if a person was carrying a visible gun at the time, it was intimidating. In doing so, the law reinforces existing state prohibitions against intimidation of voters and those who administer elections.
Jasleen Singh, counsel in the Brennan Center’s voting rights program, had the following comment:
“Colorado has taken a significant step towards ensuring the safety of those casting a ballot and counting them. This measure adds critical new protections against intimidation and coercion for voters, election officials, and election workers. Bolstering protections against intimidation will help promote free and fair elections in the years to come. We applaud Colorado’s investment in the safety of voting and democracy.”
Background
In recent years, we have seen an unprecedented level of threats and intimidation against election workers. We have also seen the use of guns to intimidate and coerce officials. In 2023, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law and GIFFORDS Law Center developed model legislation to protect against these threats, known as the PEACE Act, as a result of their joint report, Guns and Voting: How to Protect Elections After Bruen. Colorado is now the second state, after California, to pass legislation based on the PEACE Act.
In 2022 and 2024, Colorado enacted laws that prohibit all firearms in polling places, at ballot drop boxes, and at ballot counting facilities. The law enacted today builds on that progress, and prohibits the intimidation of voters, election officials, and election workers.
Related resources
- Guns and Voting: How to Protect Elections AfterBruen, Brennan Center and GIFFORDS Law Center (2023)
- “New Legislation Aims to Stop Armed Intimidation of Voters,” Brennan Center (2024)
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