[Colorado-Talk] Using Colorado's Accessible Ballot Delivery and Return System

Tue Oct 17 22:12:27 UTC 2023

Using Colorado's
Accessible Ballot
Delivery and Return System

By Curtis Chong

Starting October 16, 2023, ballots for the November 7 coordinated election
will be mailed out to registered voters in Colorado. For people with
disabilities, those who are blind, and individuals who are unable to mark
the printed mail ballot without assistance, this means that on that date,
Colorado's accessible electronic ballot delivery, marking, and return system
will be open and available to be used. In Colorado, people with disabilities
can obtain and mark their ballots at home using the access technology with
which they are most familiar. People with print disabilities can also return
their ballots electronically.

Critical First Step

For anyone who wants to use the electronic ballot return option when voting,
there is a critical first step which must be completed. You need to take a
picture of an acceptable form of identification and place it somewhere on
your computer or smartphone where you can easily locate it while returning
your ballot electronically. This could include a picture of your Colorado
State ID, your passport, a recent utility bill, or many other acceptable
IDs, the full list can be found at Acceptable Forms of Identification
(coloradosos.gov)
<https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/elections/vote/acceptableFormsOfID.html> .
If, however, you prefer to use the system simply to mark your ballot and if
you have ready access to a printer or can sign your name on the screen, you
do not need to create a picture of your authorized identification document.

Accessible Voting Procedure

1.      Beginning October 16, 2023, point your browser to
https://myballot.sos.colorado.gov
<https://myballot.sos.colorado.gov/app/home> . You will be taken to the
accessible ballot home page. Find the "Vote My Ballot" heading and activate
the CONTINUE button which is immediately adjacent to it. This will take you
to the "Voter Lookup" page.

2.      On this "Voter Lookup" page, you will need to provide your first and
last name, your date of birth, and the county where you are registered to
vote. Once this information has been entered, activate the CONTINUE button.
This will take you to the "Ballot Type" page.

3.      On the "Ballot Type" page, you will find three radio buttons.

.        I am requesting an emergency ballot

.        I am a voter with a disability and am requesting an accessible
ballot

.        This does not apply

Activate the second radio button and then activate the CONTINUE button to be
taken to the "Please confirm you are eligible to access this system" page.

4.      This page contains a checkbox which you should activate to affirm
that you are a voter with a disability as defined in the Americans with
Disabilities Act. Check the box and then activate the CONTINUE button.

5.      This next page asks if you are a voter who is blind, has a print
disability, or is otherwise unable, through physical disability, to hold,
mark, or manipulate a ballot or to focus or move the eyes to the extent that
would be normally acceptable for reading or marking a ballot. If you are
blind and want to return your ballot electronically, activate the Yes radio
button. If you want to return your ballot in the mail and you have a
printer, you can respond "No" to this question. After activating the
appropriate Radio Button, activate the CONTINUE button to get to the last
voter verification page.

6.      On this last voter verification page, you are asked to enter either
your driver's license number (i.e., your Colorado State ID number) or the
last four digits of your Social Security number. If you choose to enter your
Colorado State ID number, please note that you should not enter the hyphens
which appear on your Colorado State ID. You do not need to enter both your
State ID number and the last four digits of your Social Security number.
Entering one number or the other is sufficient for this page. After entering
your identification information, activate the CONTINUE button to be taken to
your ballot.

7.      On the ballot page, each candidate or position is indicated by a
checkbox. Use the space key to check the boxes corresponding to the
candidates or positions for which you want to vote. Once you have completed
marking the ballot, activate the CONTINUE button to go to the Selection
Review page.

8.      On the Selection Review page, you have the opportunity to check your
ballot for one last time before moving on to the next phase. There is a
Change button for each contest which, when activated, takes you back to the
ballot page. Once you are satisfied that the ballot is as you want it,
activate the CONTINUE button at the bottom of the page. You will be taken to
the Save or Print Your Ballot page.

9.      On this page, you should activate the SAVE OR PRINT BALLOT button.
If you are activating this button from a Windows computer and if you want to
save your ballot instead of printing it, you should ensure that the printer
selected is the one which is labeled Save as PDF.

10.    After your ballot is saved or printed, you will be taken back to the
Save or Print Your Ballot page. Activate the CONTINUE button to be taken to
the "Would you like to sign on your screen" page.

11.    Screen reader users are advised not to elect to sign their names on
the screen; I have found no feasible way for nonvisual users to accomplish
this task. Hence, you should find the heading which says, "I would like to
return an acceptable form of identification or sign with a pen" and activate
the CONTINUE button adjacent to this heading. You will now be taken to the
"Download or Print Additional Ballot Materials" page.

12.    On the "Download or Print Additional Ballot Materials" page, activate
the DOWNLOAD OR PRINT ADDITIONAL MATERIALS button. Windows users will be
prompted with a dialog to save a PDF document. By default this file will be
placed in your default Downloads folder. You will be able to give the
document whatever name works for you.

13.    After the document has been printed or downloaded, activate the
CONTINUE button to go to the next step.

14.    If you are going to print your ballot and ballot application
documents instead of downloading them, you are finished. However, if you
downloaded these files to submit them electronically, you should pay
attention to the following instructions.

"Thank you for voting, but you're not done!

"Please follow the instructions provided in the previous pages and in your
additional ballot materials to return your ballot and materials to your
local elections office. If you are returning your ballot and materials
electronically, please return them at Colorado's secure ballot return
website by clicking the "return my ballot" link below."

For your information, the "return my ballot" link points to
https://ballotreturn.coloradosos.gov/form/accessible.

Uploading Your Ballot and Ballot Application

After you have saved your ballot, your ballot application document, and a
picture of an acceptable ID, you should direct your browser to the website
https://ballotreturn.coloradosos.gov/form/accessible. You will be taken to
the State of Colorado Secure Ballot Return page. You do not have to perform
this part of the voting process immediately after you have finished marking
your ballot. You already have your documents downloaded to your system. You
can treat this as part of the process as something that you can take up on
another day.

On the State of Colorado Secure Ballot Return page, screen reader users are
placed on an edit field where you are asked to enter your first name.
Entering your identification information is, however, one of the last steps
you should perform in this procedure-not the first. Move your focus to the
top of the page and read the information you find there. Screen reader users
should activate the browse to attach files link to start uploading the first
file. As each file is uploaded successfully, a list will appear showing the
file name and file size. The system allows a maximum of 20 files to be
uploaded. Each file should not exceed 5 megabytes in size. Since you aren't
printing anything, you will need to upload three files:

.        your voted ballot,

.        your ballot application, and

.        a picture of your state identification card.

Once all files have been uploaded, fill in your name, phone number, and
email address, and activate the Submit button.

Conclusion

If all of this sounds complicated or, at the very least, tedious, I am
afraid that there are definitely a lot of steps to perform here. Such is the
way with technology.

Voters with disabilities who use this system are urged to contact their
respective county clerks. If history is any guide, you will probably be
referred to the office of Colorado's Secretary of State. If you like, feel
free to call me at 515-306-1654 or drop me an email at
chong.curtis at gmail.com <mailto:chong.curtis at gmail.com> . I will try to be of
help if I can.

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