Ahead of the November election, county clerks and sheriffs across Colorado must hold a day of in-person voting at every local jail to meet the requirements of a new law, Colorado Newsline reports. The measure Gov. Jared Polis signed in May requires county sheriffs to designate someone to help eligible voters in jails cast their ballots. The designee is responsible for informing confined individuals of their eligibility and coordinating with the county clerk to set up a temporary, in-person voting center. Voters in jail must also receive information on candidates and measures included on the ballot so they can know who and what they’re voting for. Jasmine Ross of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition said of the 5,205 eligible confined voters in the state in 2020, only 557 cast a ballot, a 7% turnout rate. In the 2022 elections, only 231 of the 4,876 eligible confined voters cast a ballot. Under the new law, Ross anticipates turnout will rise “drastically.”
“Even though Colorado has implemented such great laws ...people were still being disenfranchised,” Ross said. “So with this new legislation mandating in-person voting, we know that everyone will have the opportunity, or a better opportunity, to have access to their voting rights.” The new in-person voting procedures are not required to be in place for the June 25 primary elections. Maysa Sitar is Denver’s voter accessibility administrator, supporting overseas and military voters, voters with disabilities, voters in care homes and voters in jails. Denver held in-person voting for confined voters for three elections in 2023, as well as the presidential primary in February. Sitar said her team is in jails checking voter registrations. “As an elections division, we do not determine who’s guilty of a crime, it’s not our role,” Sitar said. “The courts determine that, and our role is to provide easy and accessible voting to every single eligible voter.”