[Colorado-Talk] Using Colorado's Accessible Voting System in the 2024 Presidential Primary Election

Thu Feb 8 17:08:01 UTC 2024

Using Colorado's
Accessible Ballot Delivery and Return System
In the 2024 Presidential Primary Election

By Curtis Chong

Starting February 12, 2024, ballots for the March 5 Presidential Primary
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 become available. In Colorado, people with disabilities can
obtain and mark their ballots at home, at work, or anywhere else using the
access technology with which they are most familiar. People with print
disabilities can also return their ballots electronically. The instructions
provided here are based on my experience with a demonstration system
generously provided by the Office of the Colorado Secretary of State.

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 your Colorado State ID and place it somewhere on your computer or
smartphone where you can easily locate it while returning your ballot
electronically. You do not need to do this if you are able to draw your
signature on the computer or smartphone screen or prefer to use the system
simply to mark your ballot and can print the ballot and the ballot
application.

Accessible Voting Procedure

1.         Point your browser to  <https://myballot.coloradosos.gov>
https://myballot.coloradosos.gov. 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

.           These do 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.         The Please confirm you are eligible to access this system 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 a question which determines 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 should respond "No" to this
question. After activating the appropriate Radio Button, activate the
CONTINUE button.

6.         On this last voter verification page, you are asked to enter
either your driver's license (Colorado State ID) number or the last four
digits of your Social Security number. You do not need to enter both pieces
of information. If you are entering your state ID number, you should not
enter any of the hyphens which appear on your Colorado state ID card. After
entering your identification information, activate the CONTINUE button.

7.         If you are registered as an unaffiliated voter, you will be
prompted to choose a party's ballot: Democratic or Republican. If you are
registered as a Republican or Democratic voter, you will not be presented
with this option-you will just be taken directly to your Republican or
Democratic Party ballot. If you are affiliated with a minor party (e.g.,
Libertarian or Green Party), you will not be able to vote in this primary
and will instead receive an error message.

8.         Once you reach 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.

9.         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.

10.       On this page, you should activate the SAVE OR PRINT YOUR 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.

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

This page informs you that, "You have the option to sign your voter
affidavit on your device or to skip signing on your device and return your
ballot with an acceptable form of identification or handwritten signature."
Screen reader users should navigate to the heading which says, "I would like
to return an acceptable form of identification or sign with a pen" and
activate the CONTINUE button immediately adjacent to this heading; this will
navigate you 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 it
whatever name works for you.

13.       After the file 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 documents instead
of downloading them, you are finished; you will need to sign the ballot
application document, however, before putting both the ballot and the
application into an envelope. 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>
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 your Colorado State ID, you should direct your browser to the
website  <https://ballotreturn.coloradosos.gov/form/accessible>
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 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. Before
you enter your identification information, you need to first upload your
saved files. Move your focus to the top of the page and read the information
you find there. Non-mouse 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 exceedingly 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
<mailto:chong.curtis at gmail.com> chong.curtis at gmail.com. I will try to be of
help if I can.

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