Colorado authorizes innovative voting service for incarcerated individuals

Colorado will allow certain charged or incarcerated people to vote from behind bars this election with a first-of-its-kind program.

Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) signed a bill Monday mandating election officials and law enforcement bring voting services to county jails and detention centers, including one day of in-person voting on Election Day. Convicted felons will still not be allowed to vote under Colorado state law.

“In Colorado, we really pride ourselves on our gold star election system,” said state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Democrat who sponsored the bill. “Yet we realized that there was a group of people who weren’t able to fully access the ballot.”

Colorado is the first state to implement a statewide mandate such as this. Sixty-one jails and detention centers will bring in-person voting to their facilities in November. Under the program, those awaiting trial, including for felonies, or those convicted of misdemeanors will be able to cast a vote in the general election.

Law enforcement and election officials will offer a six-hour voting window for inmates to cast their ballots. Mail-in voting will remain an option as well.

“One of the things that we heard from people who had previously been incarcerated was that being able to weigh in on these elections was so important for them to remember that even though they are navigating the criminal legal system, they still are a member of a community, a citizen of Colorado, and that they still had rights and obligations,” Gonzales said.

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Federal data show nearly half a million people were awaiting trial behind bars as of mid-2022.

Eight jails currently allow voting behind bars, including two in Colorado, according to Prison Policy. In 2020, 136 eligible inmates cast their ballots in Denver.