(1) The secretary or
secretary's designee of any tribal council of an Indian tribe located on a federal
reservation serves as a deputy registrar only for registration purposes for the
county in which the reservation is located. The secretary of the tribal council or the
secretary's designee shall register any eligible elector residing in any precinct in
the county who provides information sufficient to complete a voter registration
application to the secretary of the tribal council at any time during which
registration is permitted in the office of the county clerk and recorder. The
secretary of the tribal council shall forward the registration records to the county
clerk and recorder, either in person or by certified mail, on or before the fifteenth
day of each month; except that, within twenty-two days before an election, the
secretary of the tribal council shall appear in person or transmit daily to deliver any
registration records to the county clerk and recorder. Within eight days before an
election, the secretary of the tribal council shall accept an application and inform
the applicant that he or she must go to a voter service and polling center in order to
vote in that election.
(2) An eligible elector who lives on an Indian reservation, but who does not
have a residence address recognized by the United States postal service, may
register to vote using, as his or her residence address, the address of the tribal
council headquarters or any other address approved by the secretary of the tribal
council.
(3) The tribe, upon approval from the tribal council, may provide to the
secretary of state's office a list of tribal members eligible to vote in an election
conducted pursuant to this title 1. The secretary of state and the tribal council must
determine and agree upon the format for the tribal membership list. The secretary
of state may promulgate rules to effectuate the sharing of this information with the
appropriate Colorado counties to register to vote tribal members or update existing
registrations of tribal members if the tribal address is more recent than the address
on file with the secretary of state for that tribal member. The tribal council may
supplement the tribal membership list at any time. Ninety days prior to each
general election, the secretary of state must invite, in writing, the tribal council to
supplement the tribal membership list, and the tribal council may update the list at
its discretion. The tribal membership list may only be used for election-related
purposes.
(4) Upon receiving an electronic record for an individual who provides
documentation that confirms the individual's citizenship and contains the minimum
information to register the individual to vote, the secretary of state shall provide the
information to the county clerk and recorder of the county in which the individual
resides. Upon receipt of a record, the county clerk and recorder shall determine if
the record is complete for the purposes of voter registration or preregistration.
(5) If the record is complete for purposes of voter registration or
preregistration, the county clerk and recorder shall send to the individual's address
of record, by nonforwardable mail:
(a) If the record is for an eligible elector, notice that the elector has been
registered to vote and a postage paid pre-addressed return form by which the
elector may:
(I) Decline to be registered as an elector; or
(II) Affiliate with a political party; and
(b) If the record is for an individual eligible to preregister under section 1-2-101 (2), notice that the individual has been preregistered and will be automatically
registered upon turning eighteen years of age, and a postage paid pre-addressed
return form by which the individual may:
(I) Decline to be preregistered; or
(II) Affiliate with a political party.
(6) If the record is not complete, the county clerk and recorder shall send to
the individual's address of record, by nonforwardable mail, notice that the individual
has not been registered or preregistered to vote and stating the additional
information required to register or preregister. If the individual provides the
additional information, the individual is registered or preregistered to vote effective
as of the date that the county used the list provided by the secretary of the tribal
council to register the individual to vote. If the individual does not provide the
additional information necessary to make the individual's application complete and
accurate within twenty-four months after the notification is mailed pursuant to this
subsection (6), the individual's registration is canceled.
(7) A notice mailed pursuant to subsection (5) of this section must include an
explanation in English of the eligibility requirements to register or preregister to
vote, and a statement that, if the individual is not eligible, the individual should
decline to register using the pre-addressed return form.
(8) The notice provided pursuant to subsection (5) of this section must
include a statement that, if an individual declines to register or preregister to vote,
the declination will remain confidential and will be used only for voter registration
statistics purposes, and a statement that, if an individual remains registered or
preregistered to vote, the office at which the individual was registered or
preregistered will remain confidential and will be used only for voter registration
statistics purposes.
(9) (a) (I) If a notice provided under subsections (5) and (6) of this section is
returned as undeliverable within twenty days after the county clerk and recorder
mails the notice, the individual's registration or preregistration is canceled and the
individual is deemed to have never registered or preregistered. If the notice is
returned as undeliverable after twenty days after the county clerk and recorder
mails the notice, the individual's registration or preregistration is marked inactive.
(II) Notwithstanding subsection (9)(a)(I) of this section, if an individual votes
in an election after the transfer of the individual's record but before the notice is
returned as undeliverable, the individual's registration shall not be canceled or
marked inactive.
(b) If a notice provided pursuant to subsection (5) of this section is not
returned within twenty days, the individual is registered or preregistered as of the
date that the county used the list provided by the secretary of the tribal council to
register the individual to vote and the individual shall be marked as unaffiliated.
(c) If an individual returns the form provided pursuant to subsection (5) of
this section and declines to be registered or preregistered, including if the
individual returns the form and both declines to be registered or preregistered and
also affiliates with a party, the individual's registration or preregistration is
canceled and the individual is deemed to have never registered or preregistered;
except that, if the individual has voted in an election, the return form is of no effect
and the individual remains registered as of the date that the county used the list
provided by the secretary of the tribal council to register the individual to vote.
(d) If an individual returns the form provided under subsection (5) of this
section and affiliates with a party, the individual is registered or preregistered as of
the date that the county used the list provided by the secretary of the tribal council
to register the individual to vote and the individual's affiliation shall be marked
effective as of the date the affiliation information was received.
(e) If an individual returns the form without marking either the option to
decline or the option to affiliate with a party, the returned form is of no effect. The
individual is registered or preregistered as of the date that the county used the list
provided by the secretary of the tribal council to register the individual to vote and
shall be marked as unaffiliated.
(10) After the twenty-day period described in subsection (9) of this section
passes, the registration information of an individual registered pursuant to this
section becomes a registration record that must be maintained and made available
for public inspection in accordance with section 1-2-227. Information relating to the
return of a notice form by an individual declining to be registered or preregistered is
not a public record subject to public inspection and shall not be used for any
purpose other than voter registration statistics.
(11) This section does not preclude the state from complying with its
obligations under the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993, 52 U.S.C.
sec. 20501 et seq., as amended; the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, 52 U.S.C.
sec. 10101 et seq., as amended; the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002, 52
U.S.C. sec. 20901 et seq., as amended; or any other applicable federal laws.