The El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office partnered with the Colorado County Clerks Association to propose initiatives that enhance and strengthen the election process.
These will ensure elections continue to be secure, accurate, transparent and accessible. They are based on current law with the input from experts in elections. They also will serve to dispel misinformation and point people to trusted sources for correct election information.
Please review the Election Integrity Initiatives. Our Elections staff can answer your questions and provide information by email or at (719) 575-VOTE (8683).
Ballot Images & Cast Vote Records Available for Public Inspection at No Cost
The El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office is confident in our election processes and systems. Thanks to our Risk Limiting Audit (RLA), we can push back on disinformation and provide evidence that our voting systems count votes correctly. However, citizens should also be able to verify election outcomes on their own, and they should not have to pay to do so. Once the election is certified and ballots are redacted to protect anonymity, ballot images should be available to the public at no cost.
The El Paso County Clerk and Recorder launched Ballot Verifier on the website. This tool enables you to review ballot images online and cast vote records to see how each election was tabulated.
Signature Verification Audit Process Enhancements
Signature verification is one of the key factors in protecting the integrity of the state’s mail ballot model. Colorado’s signature verification is one of the best in the country. However, there are enhancements to this process we would like to see in order to further strengthen its accuracy and transparency.
Secretary of State Election Rule 7.8.8 requires counties to periodically audit signature verification judges. Our Office suggests a formal audit written into state law, similar to the RLA, that will ensure signature verification is the same and correct across the state. This audit can be conducted in real-time during signature verification, after signature verification is complete, or both. This type of audit will also provide voters confidence that signatures are adjudicated correctly. Our RLA proves our voting systems count votes accurately. This office believes our citizens deserve the same level of confidence that our signature verification process is accurate as well.
El Paso County has a signature verification audit program to ensure signature verification judges are completing this step correctly.
Voter List Maintenance Review/Audit
An accurate voter registration list is vital to ensuring free and fair elections. The state has taken many steps to increase the access to our voting lists. Automatic voter registration through the Department of Revenue and same day voter registration improve our voter registration list. Our voter registration list is one of the most accurate in the country. With that said, we must continue striving for improvement.
Our Office supports an audit process to prove our voter registration list is as accurate as possible. This audit includes validating data from Social Security Administration, Department of Health, Department of Revenue, and SAVE for immigration information. It ensures the data is accurate and delivered timely for counties to process. This audit would also verify that the Colorado Department of State sends information to counties timely to process the data, especially within 60 days of all elections. All Colorado Counties should also be audited to ensure they process this information accurately and timely.
Ensure the Proper Funding of Elections
Simply stated, elections aren’t properly funded in Colorado, especially at the county level. The statutory reimbursement to counties for running elections does not come close to meeting actual costs. It also doesn’t support improvements to our processes. In 2020, some counties relied on funding from nonprofit grants because they did not have the funding to ensure their elections were accessible and secure. The state needs to update its reimbursement rates to cover costs and unfunded state mandates.
Enhancement of Security Video System
Security cameras are installed at each ballot drop-off box in the county. The system shows activity at the box and allows the public to view the boxes in real time 24/7 from the Clerk’s website. This system increases election transparency and integrity.
Motion triggered events at a ballot box also are uploaded and saved to cloud storage. This not only meets the state’s requirement of 25 months for storage, but exceeds it, allowing for storage up to 10 years.
The security camera system provides an efficient, cost-effective means to ensure the integrity of the ballot boxes. The public can view the ballot boxes for themselves and trust in our mail ballot elections.
