- Colorado legislation supposedly aimed at increasing election security effectively outlawed hand-counting ballots in most of the state, and election officials are the ones who requested the ban.
- The Colorado Election Security Act (SB22-153) was drafted in response to Mesa County clerk Tina Peters allowing election skeptics to replicate hard drives to check for evidence of fraud. SB22-153 contains a number of provisions, with the state government mostly focusing on those outlawing replication, and banning people convicted of insurrection or sedition from becoming election officials.
- At a meeting of the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), Colorado’s elections director Judd Choate said “probably… the most important part” of the law is a rule most missed or ignored: an effective ban on hand-counting ballots almost everywhere in the state.
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Colorado Bans Hand-Counting Of Election Ballots
Ballots are dropped off in a collection box outside the Denver Elections Division for the city's election Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in downtown Denver. The 2023 municipal general election ballot consists of races for various local offices including mayor, which has drawn 16 candidates to succeed term-limited Mayor Michael Hancock, city council, clerk and recorder and auditor as well as three local ballot measures. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
