Colorado Secretary of State’s Office Sends Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Denver, April 15, 2022 - The Secretary of State’s Office issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to consider preliminary draft rules including, rules necessary to implement House Bills 21-1011 (multilingual ballot access for voters) and 21-1071 (ranked choice voting in nonpartisan elections); a reorganization and re-adoption of current election security rules; and permanent adoption of voting system security rules that were temporarily adopted on February 10, 2022.

“Every Colorado voter, Republican, Democrat, and Unaffiliated alike, deserves accessible and secure elections,” said Secretary Griswold. “These rules will further the Department’s goal of delivering great elections for Coloradans across the state. As Secretary of State, I will always protect access to the ballot box for every eligible voter and the integrity of our election system.”

The preliminary draft rules include:

• Rules to implement the law establishing multilingual ballot access for voters by directing counties to offer access and assistance to a multilingual hotline set-up by the Secretary of State.
• Rules to implement ranked choice voting for municipal elections law by creating certification standards for voting system providers to follow for that system to be used in an instant run-off election.
• Permanent adoption of the temporary elections rules that were adopted in February to ensure the security and custody of Colorado’s voting systems. The rules include measures restricting physical and electronic access to the voting system and outline the enforcement mechanisms necessary to ensure election security compliance.
• The reorganization of Rule 20 (security rule) and additional changes to further enhance security for the entire election system.
• Clarification of rules concerning election watchers to make clear that watching a drop box is a permissible activity for an election watcher.

A public rulemaking hearing is scheduled for May 24th, 2022 at 9:30 am to receive testimony concerning the preliminary draft of permanent rules. This hearing will be conducted in-person and via webinar. The in-person hearing will take place at the Secretary of State’s Office and registration for the webinar can be done at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4289699957742255116.

The public is also invited to send feedback to the Secretary of State’s Office regarding the rulemaking process. Those interested in participating can review the preliminary draft rules and submit written comments about the proposed permanent rules to SOS.Rulemaking@coloradosos.gov at any time prior to and during the hearing. The Secretary of State’s Office will redact apparent personal contact information, including home address, email address, and telephone number(s), from submissions before posting the information online, unless otherwise directed by the contributor. All written comments will be added to the official rulemaking record.

For the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, including a statement of basis and preliminary draft rules, please click here.