Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold Announces 2024 Legislative Priorities

Secretary Griswold focused on fortifying democracy in the State of Colorado

Denver, January 25, 2024 - Today, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced her legislative priorities on democracy for the 2024 Colorado Legislative Session.

“Colorado’s elections are the nation’s gold standard, but we have not been immune to the attacks on democracy,” said Secretary Griswold. “This year, I am leading a legislative package to make it a crime to participate in a fake elector scheme and to rein in the use of AI to mislead voters. In addition to increasing our security, we will continue to open up access with legislation that requires consultation with the Tribes in Colorado on voting rights and elections.”

This legislative package ensures Colorado is ready for the emergence of AI disruptions in elections; protects Colorado elections from any future fake elector schemes; and ensures Colorado’s tribal communities have a voice at the table for years to come. 

Secretary Griswold’s priorities for the 2024 Legislative Session include:

✓ AI Transparency and Enforcement

• AI technology is used to create deepfakes by manipulating a person’s actions or speech. Deepfakes can be used to effectively spread disinformation.
• Coloradans deserve to know when the content they are consuming is real and when it has been altered by AI.
• This bill requires AI-generated communications that feature Colorado candidates or officeholders have disclaimers so Coloradans know they may not be real.  
• This bill requires deepfakes and AI-generated media that feature Colorado candidates or officeholders have disclaimers so Coloradans know they may not be real.

✓ Criminalizing Fake Elector Schemes

• Fake electors were central to the attempt to steal the presidency in 2020. Colorado law needs to be strengthened to address this type of attempt to disenfranchise voters and take away Coloradans’ voices in elections.
• This bill criminalizes creating or conspiring to create a fake slate of presidential electors or serving as a fake elector, and bars someone convicted under it from holding future office in Colorado. 
• When enacted, Colorado may be the first state in the nation to explicitly ban fake electors schemes.

✓ Guaranteeing Tribal Consultation on Voting Rights

• The partnership between the Secretary Griswold’s Office and Colorado’s Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Tribes has led to major improvements in voting access on Tribal lands. To continue to work to reverse historical voter suppression of Native Americans in Colorado, this bill requires periodic meetings between the Secretary of State’s office and the Tribes on voting rights and voting access for the first time ever in Colorado. 

This ensures Tribal Nations in Colorado will always have a seat at the table when it comes to safe and accessible elections in Colorado.