Colorado § 1-5-612 - Use of electronic and electromechanical voting systems.

§ 1-5-612. Use of electronic and electromechanical voting systems.

(1) (a) The county clerk and recorder for a county with one thousand or more active electors as of the date of the last general election must, upon consultation with the board of county commissioners, acquire and adopt an electronic or electromechanical voting system, including any upgrade in hardware, firmware, or software, for use in all elections conducted by the county under the "Uniform Election Code of 1992".

(b) Repealed.

(c) The county clerk and recorder shall oversee the selection, supervision, and management of all personnel, including contractors and vendors, engaged in the acquisition, implementation, operation, and maintenance of the electronic or electromechanical voting system, subject to the rules of the secretary of state.

(2) An electronic or electromechanical voting system may be used only if the system has been certified by the secretary of state in accordance with this part 6.

(3) (a) The secretary of state shall, if possible, negotiate a single annual statewide license with the voting system provider of a certified voting system for use in an election using instant runoff voting pursuant to section 1-5-617 (1.5) to allow each county that uses the voting system to conduct elections using instant runoff voting. The secretary of state shall pay for such annual statewide license from the department of state cash fund created in section 24-21-104 (3)(b).

(b) Each county that uses a voting system in an instant runoff voting election pursuant to a statewide license paid for pursuant to subsection (3)(a) of this section shall reimburse the department of state for its proportionate share of the cost of the annual statewide license for the year in which the election is held. The secretary of state shall provide an invoice to each county that uses the voting system for its proportionate share of the cost of the statewide license based on the number of registered active electors in all participating municipalities in that county compared to the total number of registered active electors in all participating municipalities in the state, as determined by the secretary of state.

Source: L. 2004: Entire section added, p. 1347, § 14, effective May 28. L. 2013: Entire section amended, (HB 13-1303), ch. 185, p. 713, § 48, effective May 10. L. 2022: (1) amended, (SB 22-153), ch. 322, p. 2280, § 10, effective June 2. L. 2026: (1)(a) amended, (1)(b) repealed, and (1)(c) and (3) added, (HB 26-1113), ch. 267, p. 1502, § 40, effective June 1.

Cross references: (1) For the legislative declaration contained in the 2004 act enacting this section, see section 1 of chapter 334, Session Laws of Colorado 2004.

(2) In 2013, this section was amended by the "Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act". For the short title and the legislative declaration, see sections 1 and 2 of chapter 185, Session Laws of Colorado 2013.

(3) For the short title ("Colorado Election Security Act") and the legislative declaration in SB 22-153, see sections 1 and 2 of chapter 322, Session Laws of Colorado 2022.