Colorado § 1-10.5-102 - Recounts for congressional, state, and district offices, state ballot questions, and state ballot issues.

§ 1-10.5-102. Recounts for congressional, state, and district offices, state ballot questions, and state ballot issues.

(1) If the secretary of state determines that a recount is required for the office of United States senator, representative in congress, any state office or district office of state concern, any state ballot question, or any state ballot issue certified for the ballot by the secretary of state, the secretary of state shall order a complete recount of all the votes cast for that office, state ballot question, or state ballot issue no later than the twenty-fourth day after the election.

(2) The secretary of state shall notify the county clerk and recorder of each county involved of a public recount to be conducted in the county. The recount must be completed no later than the thirty-first day after any election. The secretary of state shall promulgate and provide each county clerk and recorder with the necessary rules to conduct the recount in a fair, impartial, and uniform manner, including provisions for watchers during the recount. The rules adopted by the secretary of state shall require the county clerk and recorder to allow any candidate who is subject to a recount to select one watcher for the recount in addition to any watchers otherwise selected for the recount. Any rule concerning the conduct of a recount must take into account the type of voting system and equipment used by the county in which the recount is to be conducted.

(3) (a) Prior to any recount, the canvass board shall choose at random and test at least one ballot scanner that will be used in the candidate race, ballot issue, or ballot question that is the subject of the recount. The purpose of the test is to ensure that the voting system accurately tabulates votes in the recounted contest. To conduct the test, the county must prepare and tabulate the following groups of ballots:

(I) A group of ballots that includes every ballot style and, where applicable, precinct style containing the recounted contest. The group of ballots must consist of enough ballots to mark every vote position and every possible combination of vote positions for the recounted contest and include overvotes, undervotes, and blank votes in the recounted contest. The canvass board may choose to use the county's group of ballots from the public logic and accuracy test conducted pursuant to section 1-7-509 (2) for the same election to satisfy this requirement.

(II) For a requested recount, a group of ballots consisting of ten ballots with the recount contest marked by the individual requesting the recount, any other candidate in the contest, or the person or organization that could have requested the recount; and

(III) For a mandatory recount, each canvass board member, other than the clerk, shall separately mark their own group of ten test ballots with the recount contest.

(b) A bipartisan team of election judges or staff must hand tally the recounted contest on the test ballots and verify that the hand tally matches the voting system's tabulation for each scanner that is being tested. If the canvass board uses the county's group of ballots from the public logic and accuracy test conducted under section 1-7-509 (2), then the canvass board may use the known results or previous hand tally of that group of ballots in lieu of hand tallying the recounted contest for those ballots. If the results of the comparison of the machine count and the manual count in accordance with the requirements of subsection (3)(a) of this section and this subsection (3)(b) are identical, or if the canvass board concludes that any discrepancies are attributable to human error, then the recount must be conducted in the same manner as the original ballot count. If the results of the comparison of the machine count and the manual count in accordance with the requirements of subsection (3)(a) of this section and this subsection (3)(b) are not identical, or if any discrepancy is not able to be accounted for by voter error, a presumption is created that a hand count of the voter-verified paper records will be used for the recount, unless evidence exists that the integrity of the voter-verified paper records has been irrevocably compromised. The secretary of state shall decide which method of recount is used in each case, based on the secretary's determination of which method will ensure the most accurate count, subject to judicial review for abuse of discretion. Nothing in this subsection (3) limits any person from pursuing any applicable legal remedy otherwise provided by law.

(c) The secretary of state shall promulgate such rules, in accordance with article 4 of title 24, C.R.S., as may be necessary to administer and enforce any requirement of this section, including any rules necessary to provide guidance to the counties in conducting the test of voting devices for the recount required by paragraph (a) of this subsection (3). The rules shall account for:

(I) The number of ballots cast in the candidate race, ballot issue, or ballot question that is the subject of the recount;

(II) An audit of each type of voting device utilized by the county in the candidate race, ballot issue, or ballot question that is the subject of the recount; and

(III) The confidentiality of the ballots cast by the electors in the candidate race, ballot issue, or ballot question that is the subject of the recount.

Source: L. 99: Entire article added with relocations, p. 484, § 13, effective July 1. L. 2001: (2) amended, p. 300, § 1, effective August 8. L. 2002: (1) and (2) amended, p. 1638, § 28, effective June 7. L. 2005: (2) and (3) amended, p. 1423, § 51, effective June 6; (2) and (3) amended, p. 1458, § 51, effective June 6. L. 2012: (1) amended, (HB 12-1292), ch. 181, p. 688, § 40, effective May 17. L. 2018: (2) amended, (SB 18-233), ch. 262, p. 1615, § 36, effective May 29. L. 2021: (3)(a) and (3)(b) amended, (SB 21-250), ch. 282, p. 1653, § 49, effective June 21. L. 2023: (1), (2), (3)(a), and (3)(b) amended, (SB 23-276), ch. 399, p. 2389, § 38, effective June 6. L. 2025: (2) amended, (HB 25-1155), ch. 35, p. 177, § 2, effective August 6; (3)(a)(III) amended, (SB 25-001), ch. 178, p. 746, § 9, effective August 6.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 1-10-301 as it existed prior to 1999.