Colorado § 1-2-103 - Military service - students - inmates - persons with behavioral or mental health disorders - confinement.

§ 1-2-103. Military service - students - inmates - persons with behavioral or mental health disorders - confinement.

(1) For the purposes of registration, voting, and eligibility for office, no person gains residence by reason of that person's presence, or loses it by reason of absence, while in the civil or military service of the state or of the United States; while a student at any institution of higher education; or while confined in a correctional facility, jail, or state institution if the person is not serving a sentence for a felony conviction.

(2) The provisions of subsection (1) of this section notwithstanding, no person otherwise qualified under the provisions of this code shall be denied the right to register or to vote at any election held within this state solely because that person is a student at an institution of higher education.

(3) No provision in this section shall apply in the determination of residence or residence status of students for any college or university purpose.

(4) No person while serving a sentence of detention or confinement in a correctional facility, jail, or other location for a felony conviction is eligible to register to vote or to vote in any election. A confined prisoner who is awaiting trial but has not been tried or who is not serving a sentence for a felony conviction shall be certified by the institutional administrator, may register to vote pursuant to this article 2, and may list his or her confinement location as his or her ballot address in accordance with section 1-2-204 (2)(f.3). An individual serving a sentence of parole is eligible to register to vote and to vote in any election.

(5) A person confined in a state institution for persons with behavioral or mental health disorders shall not lose the right to vote because of the confinement.

Source: L. 92: Entire article R&RE, p. 637, § 2, effective January 1, 1993. L. 95: (4) amended, p. 821, § 6, effective July 1. L. 2005: (4) amended, p. 1395, § 5, effective June 6; (4) amended, p. 1430, § 5, effective June 6. L. 2006: (5) amended, p. 1394, § 29, effective August 7. L. 2017: (5) amended, (SB 17-242), ch. 263, p. 1262, § 29, effective May 25. L. 2018: (1) and (4) amended, (SB 18-233), ch. 262, p. 1604, § 3, effective May 29. L. 2019: (4) amended, (HB 19-1266), ch. 283, p. 2643, § 3, effective July 1.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 1-2-103 as it existed prior to 1992.

Cross references: (1) For when residence does not change because of presence in the state as a student, inmate, or due to civil or military service, see § 4 of art. VII, Colo. Const.; for disfranchisement during imprisonment, see § 10 of art. VII, Colo. Const.

(2) For the legislative declaration in SB 17-242, see section 1 of chapter 263, Session Laws of Colorado 2017. For the legislative declaration in HB 19-1266, see section 1 of chapter 283, Session Laws of Colorado 2019.

ANNOTATION

I. General Consideration.

II. Civil or Military Service.

III. Students.

IV. Inmates.

I. GENERAL CONSIDERATION.

Law reviews. For article, "Due Process in Involuntary Civil Commitment and Incompetency Adjudication Proceedings: Where Does Colorado Stand?", see 46 Den. L.J. 516 (1969).

Annotator's note. The following annotations include cases decided under former provisions similar to this section.

Judicial notice taken of location of public institutions and elections precinct boundaries. Israel v. Wood, 93 Colo. 500, 27 P.2d 1024 (1933).

A person serving a sentence of parole does not meet the constitutional requirement of having served out the full term of imprisonment and, therefore, is ineligible to vote. Danielson v. Dennis, 139 P.3d 688 (Colo. 2006).

II. CIVIL OR MILITARY SERVICE.

Mere presence of disabled soldiers in government hospital does not constitute residence. A hospital maintained by the United States government for the treatment of disabled soldiers, who may be transferred or discharged as determined by the government authorities, is an asylum, as that term is used in § 4 of art. VII, Colo. Const., and the inmates of such an institution are not, on account of their mere residence there, entitled to vote at general elections, as the presence in such a hospital does not constitute a residence as is required by this section. Merrill v. Shearston, 73 Colo. 230, 214 P. 540 (1923).

III. STUDENTS.

A student has no right to vote at the place where he resides for the purposes of education. Sharp v. McIntire, 23 Colo. 99, 46 P. 115 (1896).

Thus a student in a college town is presumed not to have the right to vote. Merrill v. Shearston, 73 Colo. 230, 214 P. 540 (1923).

And if he attempts to vote, the burden is upon him to prove his residence at that place, which must be done by other evidence than his mere presence in the town. Merrill v. Shearston, 73 Colo. 230, 214 P. 540 (1923).

Moreover, a student coming to the state for the sole purpose of attending school, not intending to stay after the completion of his course, does not acquire a residence for the purpose of voting. Parsons v. People, 30 Colo. 388, 70 P. 689 (1902).

IV. INMATES.

Presence in an institution as public charges raised a presumption against the right to vote in the precinct in which such is situated and requires evidence to overcome that presumption. Merrill v. Shearston, 73 Colo. 230, 214 P. 540 (1923); Kemp v. Heebner, 77 Colo. 177, 234 P. 1068 (1925); Israel v. Wood, 93 Colo. 500, 27 P.2d 1024 (1933).

But if, just prior to becoming inmates, voters have a bona fide residence in the precinct in which an institution is situated, they do not lose their residence in that precinct by becoming inmates. Israel v. Wood, 93 Colo. 500, 27 P.2d 1024 (1933).

"Prisoner" construed. The term "prisoner", as used in subsection (4), means one confined to serve a term of imprisonment. Moore v. MacFarlane, 642 P.2d 496 (Colo. 1982) (decided under this section as it existed prior to 1992 repeal and reenactment of this article).

Pretrial detainees may vote. Subsection (4) does not prohibit pretrial detainees confined in a jail or correctional facility from exercising the right to vote. Moore v. MacFarlane, 642 P.2d 496 (Colo. 1982) (decided under this section as it existed prior to 1992 repeal and reenactment of this article).