Colorado § 1-10-105 - Election results - certification by secretary of state.

§ 1-10-105. Election results - certification by secretary of state.

(1) After receiving, compiling, and totaling the final abstracts of votes cast for all elections from the counties, and after all mandatory recounts have been completed, the secretary of state shall prepare and certify the official statewide election results for all candidates, ballot issues, and ballot questions that the secretary of state certified for the ballot. The secretary of state shall prepare and certify the official statewide election results for any state-certified race that enters a requested recount after receiving, compiling, and totaling the amended abstract of votes cast from the counties involved in the recount. For each contest, the certified election results must show the total number of votes received, with subtotals for each county in which the candidate was on the ballot, and the ballot wording for each ballot issue and ballot question.

(2) In the event of tie votes, the secretary of state shall include the method of resolving votes and the final result in the statewide abstract of votes cast.

(3) (Deleted by amendment, L. 99, p. 480, § 7, effective July 1, 1999.)

(4) In the event that an accurate and verifiable determination of the count cannot be made and therefore the secretary of state is unable to certify the election of any candidate, the secretary shall issue a report indicating the nature of the irregularity rather than issue a certification.

(5) The secretary of state shall publish on a biennial basis an official abstract of votes cast for all statewide elections held in the year of the general election and include the odd-number year immediately preceding that general election. The abstract shall contain the following information:

(a) All information included in the statewide abstract of votes cast, as provided in subsection (1) of this section;

(b) The names of candidates elected to county offices and the offices for which they were elected, as furnished by the county clerk and recorders;

(c) The reconciled total number of active, registered voters in each county on election day;

(d) Based on the total number of registered voters, the percent of voter turnout in each county; and

(e) Any other information that the secretary of state determines would be interesting or useful to the electorate or other elected officials.

(6) Upon the request of a county clerk and recorder, the secretary of state shall furnish a copy of the complete official biennial statewide abstract of votes to the county clerk and recorder, at no charge, no later than June of the odd-numbered year immediately following the general election.

Source: L. 92: Entire article R&RE, p. 777, § 13, effective January 1, 1993. L. 94: (1) amended, p. 1169, § 49, effective July 1. L. 99: Entire section amended, p. 480, § 7, effective July 1. L. 2009: (5)(c) amended, (HB 09-1018), ch. 158, p. 685, § 7, effective August 5. L. 2010: (6) amended, (HB 10-1116), ch. 194, p. 839, § 25, effective May 5. L. 2012: (5)(d) amended, (HB 12-1292), ch. 181, p. 688, § 39, effective May 17. L. 2016: (1) amended, (SB 16-142), ch. 173, p. 586, § 61, effective May 18. L. 2021: (1) amended, (SB 21-250), ch. 282, p. 1652, § 48, effective June 21.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 1-10-104 (2) as it existed prior to 1992.

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. For a relevant case construing the provisions of this section, see the annotations under former § 1-10-104 in the 1980 replacement volume.

Certificate mistakes cannot be corrected by reference to tally lists. Mistakes in filling out the certificates of the judges of elections cannot be corrected by the canvassers or precinct election officials by reference to the tally lists, inasmuch as errors of this kind do not come within the provisions for correcting imperfect returns. People ex rel. Miller v. Tool, 35 Colo. 225, 86 P. 224, 86 P. 229, 86 P. 231, 117 Am. St. R. 198, 6 L.R.A. (n.s.) 822 (1905) (decided under former law).

But election judges may correct where clerical mistake in certificate. here the number of votes in precinct, as shown by the tallies and figures in the pollbook do not correspond to number certified, but there is a clear case of a clerical mistake in the certificate, the judges of election, when they are notified of the error, have a right to correct, and should correct, such error. People ex rel. Harper v. Ingles, 106 Colo. 213, 103 P.2d 475 (1940) (decided under former law).