Documentation of Undue Burden and Fundamental Alteration & Equally Effective Alternative Access Plan (EEAAP)

In accordance with section 24-34-802(1), C.R.S., the Department of State shall comply with the accessibility standards established by the Governor's Office of Information Technology (OIT). The Department is currently working toward making all information and technology more accessible to all Coloradans.

The Department is not required to make all technology accessibility if doing so would create an undue burden, fundamental alteration to a program, or create a direct threat.

This document describes the technology/documents that the Department has not automatically updated for accessibility because of an undue burden, fundamental alteration to a program, or a direct threat. It further delineates the plan for providing equally effective access to documents, webpages, and technology that are currently not accessible for all users.

Accommodation requests that would impose an undue financial or administrative burden on the Department may not be fulfilled as requested.

1. Inaccessible technology/documents (and undue burden/fundamental alteration analysis):

  • TRACER, the Department's campaign financial disclosure website
    • The website vendor indicates known accessibility barriers.
    • Accessibility currently imposes an undue burden due to financial and technical constraints.
  • Responses to Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests
    • To be compliant with the required time for response under section 24‐72‐203 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, accessibility currently imposes an undue burden and/or fundamental alteration to the nature of the program.
    • Documents and pages are usually archived.
  • Voter registration form in Spanish (PDF)
    • The form has known accessibility barriers
    • Accessibility currently imposes an undue burden due to technical constraints
  • Daily ballot return figures in PDF beginning Wednesday, October 23, 2024, via the Secretary of State’s Newsroom
    • The PDF documents of data charts are created by a technology platform (Canva) with known accessibility issues.
    • To create alt text for each data chart would require considerable additional resources currently unavailable to the Department given other core staffing responsibilities and would impose an undue burden.
  • Title Board filings
    • Initiatives, amendments to initiatives, final text of initiatives, motions, reviews and comments, waivers, fiscal summaries, and additional documents are filed by members of the public and or other departments of the state government to the Title Board in PDF form, and therefore are not necessarily accessible.
    • To make these documents accessible would require considerable additional resources currently unavailable to the Department given other core staffing responsibilities and would impose an undue burden.
  • LCS Fiscal Note Response Forms (Narratives and Worksheets)
    • The response forms provided to the Department are not accessible.
    • Fiscal Note responses are often due within 72 hours of receipt by the Department to LCS. To make the response forms accessible would require considerable additional resources currently unavailable to the Department given other core staffing responsibilities and would impose an undue burden.
  • Annual Budget Requests
    • The Department is required to use specific templates created by the Office of State Planning and Budgeting, which have historically been inaccessible. The Department may not change the filled-in templates and must post them publicly.
    • Further, almost all of the schedules are derived from Excel files generated from the state financial system which are then converted into PDFs per the budget submission instructions. These underlying Excel files are inaccessible and exceedingly difficult to convert into an accessible PDF format. Accessibility for these documents would impose an undue burden on the Department’s finance team and/or create a fundamental alteration to the program.
  • Campaign Finance Complaints
    • The form provided to the public for Campaign Finance Complaints is accessible. However, when an individual fills out the form, they often submit it back to the Department in a format that is inaccessible (such as an image).
    • To make these documents accessible could take multiple hours each day and would impose an undue burden on the enforcement team’s staff.
  • Filings submitted by 3rd parties to the Business Database prior to July 1, 2025
    • On average, LLCs, Corporations, General Partnerships, PCs, Non-Profits, and other entities file more than 1.2 million inaccessible documents annually with the Business database.
    • The Department does not have the budget to hire a team of full-time employees devoted to making each filing accessible, and so accessibility would impose an undue burden and/or a fundamental alteration to the program.
  • Attachments to business filings submitted to the Business Database as of July 1, 2025
    • LLCs, Corporations, General Partnerships, PCs, Non-Profits, and other entities file thousands of inaccessible attached pages with their business filings to the Business database each year, as required to provide transparency to the public.
    • The Department does not have full-time employees dedicated to making attachments accessible to the public, and so accessibility would impose an undue burden and/or a fundamental alteration to the program.
  • Filings by Performing Rights Societies
    • Performing Rights Societies are required to annually file certain information with the Department under HB17-1092. There is no legal requirement for the Performing Rights Societies to file accessible PDFs, which are usually hundreds of pages in length.
    • To make these documents accessible would require considerable additional resources currently unavailable to the Department given other core staffing responsibilities and would impose an undue burden.
  • Archived documents
    • Documents/web pages that have been archived or are not in active use have not been made accessible in accordance with 24-34-802(1), C.R.S.
    • To make these documents accessible would require considerable additional resources currently unavailable to the Department given other core staffing responsibilities and would impose an undue burden.

2. Individuals likely affected by above accessibility issues:

  • Elected officials, candidates for office, political committees, small donor committees, political parties, issue committees, recall committees, independent expenditure committees, and federal groups (federal PACs and 527s)
  • Members of the public
  • Employees of the Department

3. Process for the Department to provide an alternative means for accessible use/content:

  • TRACER:
    • In order to access or file a document in TRACER, individuals should contact the Campaign Finance Compliance team by phone at 303-894-2200 (dial 3 then 1) or email at cpfhelp@coloradosos.gov. The Department will access or file documents on the individual’s behalf.
    • The Department of State is acquiring a new vendor that will provide an accessible experience. The Department expects that a new website will be in use by the end of 2025.
  • Responses to Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) Requests
    • When the Department of State provides a timely response to a CORA request, the response will indicate that the documents will be made accessible upon request. The Department will respond to the accessibility request within three business days and provide information as to when the accessible documents will be produced on a case-by-case basis. The Department will prioritize accessibility requests for CORA documents and consider whether there are extenuating circumstances regarding timeliness of access.
    • Requesters who require accessible documents may indicate so in their initial CORA requests for faster service.
  • Voter registration form in Spanish (PDF):
    • A conforming alternative accessible version can be accessed on the voter registration website when a voter provides a verifiable Colorado Driver’s License number or last four digits of a social security number.
    • The Department of State is working with the Center for Civic Design to develop an accessible voter registration PDF. The Department anticipates the new form to be disseminated in Fall 2025.
  • Daily ballot return figures in PDF
    • A conforming alternative accessible version with all daily ballot return numbers can be accessed at the Secretary of State’s Newsroom in Excel format
    • The Department of State is working to develop technology or find a new vendor who can provide the data charts PDF in an accessible format prior to the next election, slated for November 2025.
  • Colorado Constitution (PDF) and Title 1, C.R.S. Election law (PDF):
    • Links to the Colorado Constitution and Title 1 on the “Election Laws, Rules, & Resources” page of the Colorado Secretary of State website redirects the reader to PDFs hosted by the Legislature of Colorado. The Secretary of State’s Office does not have access to those PDFs and, therefore, cannot maintain them. These PDFs are easily searchable and so they provide a good resource to the citizens of Colorado.
    • A conforming alternative accessible version of the Colorado Constitution and Title 1 can be accessed on the “Election Laws, Rules, & Resources” website by clicking on the links “Colorado Constitution (Accessible)” and “Title 1, C.R.S. Election Law (Accessible).”
  • Title Board Filings:
    • To request a Title Board filing or series of filings in an accessible format, an individual may fill out the online contact form or contact accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will respond to the request within three business days. The Department recognizes the short timelines surrounding Title Board, and will prioritize responding to requesters of these documents.
    • The new accessible document or page will be provided to both the requester and updated on the Department’s website.
    • Any initiative and additional filings specifically affecting Coloradans with disabilities and/or the disability community will automatically be made accessible prior to posting.
  • LCS Fiscal Note Response Forms (Narratives and Worksheets)
    • To request a Fiscal Note response in an accessible format, an individual may fill out the online contact form or contact accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will respond to the request within three business days.
  • Annual Budget Requests
    • For an annual budget or attachment in an accessible format, an individual may fill out the online contact form or contact accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will respond to the request within three business days to determine the needs of the requester and whether the request can be formatted to the requester’s needs.
    • The Department expects future form templates will be accessible, as all agencies are working toward accessibility compliance.
  • Campaign Finance Complaints
    • To request a campaign finance complaint in an accessible format, an individual may fill out the online contact form or contact accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will respond to the request within three business days.
    • The new accessible document or page will be provided to both the requester and updated on the Department’s website.
  • Filings submitted by 3rd parties to the Business Database prior to July 1, 2025
    • To request a business filing in an accessible format, an individual may fill out the online contact form or contact accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will respond to the request within three business days.
    • The new accessible document or page will be provided to both the requester and updated on the Department’s website.
  • Attachments to business filings submitted to the Business Database as of July 1, 2025
    • To request an attachment to a business filing in an accessible format, an individual may fill out the online contact form or contact accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will respond to the request within three business days.
    • The new accessible document or page will be provided to both the requester and updated on the Department’s website.
  • Filings by Performing Rights Societies
    • To request an attachment to a business filing in an accessible format, an individual may fill out the online contact form or contact accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will respond to the request within three business days.
    • The new accessible document or page will be provided to both the requester and updated on the Department’s website.
  • For an archived document or page:
    • To request an accessible document or webpage that is not in active use, an individual may fill out the online contact form or contact accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will respond to the request within three business days.
    • The new accessible document or page will be provided to both the requester and updated on the Department’s website.
  • For a document that is classified as an undue burden (for example, a scanned-in image of a filing):
    • To request an accessible document or webpage which is an undue burden, an individual may fill out the online contact form or contact accessibility at accessibility@coloradosos.gov. The Department will respond to the request within three business days with a determination of whether the Department can assist with the request, and how it will do so, if possible.

Formal Approval:

Andrew J. Kline
Deputy Secretary of State
June 30, 2025