You can drop off someone else’s ballot in Colorado, as long as you are not carrying more than ten mail ballots for any one election. The voter has to mark and sign the return envelope first, and you have to get the sealed ballot to an official drop box or Voter Service and Polling Center by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
The Ten-Ballot Cap
Colorado law lets a voter hand their sealed ballot to any person they choose. The only numerical limit is that no single person may collect more than ten mail ballots in any one election for mailing or delivery. The cap does not apply to authorized agents of the county clerk or designated election official, who handle ballots in unlimited quantities as part of their job.1Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 1 Section 1-7.5-107
Most people returning a ballot for someone else are family members, housemates, or caregivers moving one or two envelopes. If that describes you, you are well inside the law. Delivering a ballot for another voter also does not count as voting more than once; the statute specifically protects the person making the delivery from the prohibition on double voting.1Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 1 Section 1-7.5-107
What the Voter Has to Do First
Before you take the ballot anywhere, the voter needs to do two things: fill out the ballot and sign the self-affirmation on the return envelope. That signature is what election judges compare against the signature on file to verify the ballot. An unsigned envelope gets flagged and cannot be counted until the voter resolves it.1Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 1 Section 1-7.5-107
You do not sign anything. Your only job is getting the sealed envelope to a valid location on time.
Where and When to Drop It Off
You have two options, and both are equally valid.
- Any official ballot drop box. These are secure 24-hour receptacles placed throughout each county and must remain open until 7 p.m. on Election Day.
- Any Voter Service and Polling Center (VSPC), where you can hand the ballot to an election official. If you drop a ballot at a VSPC or drop box in a county other than the voter’s home county, the clerk is required to forward it to the correct county.1Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 1 Section 1-7.5-107
The deadline is firm. The ballot must physically be at a drop-off location or in the hands of the county clerk by 7 p.m. on Election Day. A postmark on or before Election Day is not enough if the envelope arrives late.2Colorado Secretary of State. Election Day FAQs To find the nearest drop box or VSPC, check the county clerk and recorder’s website or the Colorado Secretary of State’s site.
Confirming It Arrived and Fixing a Signature Problem
Once you have dropped the ballot, the voter can confirm it was received through BallotTrax, a free service from the Secretary of State that sends phone, email, or text notifications tracking the ballot from mailing through counting.3Colorado Secretary of State. BallotTrax FAQs It is worth suggesting this to the voter whenever someone else handles their envelope.
After the ballot comes in, an election judge compares the signature on the envelope to the signature on file in the statewide voter registration system.1Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 1 Section 1-7.5-107 If the signature is missing or does not match, the ballot is set aside and the voter is notified. Colorado runs an online cure system called eCure through GoVoteColorado.gov, and the voter has until 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time on the eighth day after Election Day to resolve the issue. If that eighth day lands on a state or federal holiday, the deadline moves to the next day.3Colorado Secretary of State. BallotTrax FAQs
Tell the voter to watch for notifications. A mismatched signature does not kill the ballot automatically, but it will stay uncounted if nobody acts within the eight-day window.
Penalties for Going Beyond the Rules
Exceeding the ten-ballot limit or interfering with another person’s ballot is a criminal offense. Colorado law provides that anyone who knowingly violates the mail ballot statutes, or aids fraud in connection with a mail ballot, faces punishment under the state’s election crime provisions.4Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 1 Section 1-13-803 – Offenses Relating to Voting by Mail Ballot A class 2 misdemeanor in Colorado carries up to 120 days in jail, a fine of up to $750, or both, for offenses on or after March 1, 2022.5FindLaw. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 18 Section 18-1.3-501 Tampering with, destroying, or altering a ballot carries its own charges that can escalate past a misdemeanor.
None of that is aimed at the neighbor dropping off a ballot or two. The law targets organized collection and deliberate interference.
Helping a Voter With a Disability
Federal law adds another layer when you are assisting someone who needs help. Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act gives any voter who needs assistance because of blindness, disability, or an inability to read or write the right to receive help from a person of their choice. The only people excluded from serving as that assistant are the voter’s employer (or the employer’s agent) and officers or agents of the voter’s union.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 52 USC 10508
This federal right covers the full voting process, including marking the ballot and returning it, and it sits on top of Colorado’s ten-ballot cap. A caregiver assisting a disabled voter is exercising a protected right, though the ten-ballot ceiling still applies to the total number of ballots any one person can carry.