Casting a ballot is one side of the voting equation, and processing the ballots is the other. Amendment 84 might make it tougher on both sides.

At its simplest, passing Amendment 84 would require voters in federal or statewide elections to include the last four digits of their Social Security or Colorado identification with their voted ballot before turning it in. Voters would be allowed to fix or “cure” problems identified by election officials, by providing acceptable ID to elections offices within a period of time after the polls close. Readers might be interested in checking out the ballot measure text, shown in a section below.

Amendment 84 would amend the Colorado Constitution and would need 55% (plus one) or more of the vote to pass. The designated representatives are Suzanne Taheri, former Deputy Secretary of State under Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler, and Chuck Broerman, the current El Paso County Treasurer and per LinkedIn, a Coalition Director with the conservative Independence Institute.

How Might Amendment 84 Change Your Voting Process?

As it stands today, the vast majority of Colorado voters do “vote by mail,” although a lot of people get a ballot in the mail and turn it back in at a drop box or elections office. And it’s very simple to do. For the most part, people open their envelope, mark the little bubbles, then put it back in an envelope. The final step before turning it in is signing and dating the back of the envelope.

Signatures allow elections officials to check the signature on the envelope against the signature that’s on record with the elections offices. It’s part of the security process to make sure the vote turned in is actually from the voter. If the signature on the ballot doesn’t seem to match what’s on file, the elections office might not allow the ballot to count unless the voter can “cure” the ballot after the election in person or online.

People whose ballots need to be cured will get a notification from elections offices, but there’s no telling if all voters will pay attention to this notification or find time to cure their ballot.

Passing Amendment 84, as noted above, would require voters to add a four-digit identifying number to the ballot, to go with their signature. This could potentially add one more area for which a ballot might be flagged – for example, if the voter forgot their ID numbers, made a mistake, or wrote something illegible. And it seems possible that it might help catch someone who’s trying to vote illegally, although the next section suggests that actual mail voter fraud is quite rare.

Is There Voter Fraud in Colorado?

It could be gleaned that Amendment 84 is on the ballot because supporters believe it might minimize voter fraud.

But per a study from the Brookings Institute, an average of four election cycles revealed a voter fraud rate of 0.000043%, or about 4 cases out of every 10 million votes: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/mail-voting-in-the-us-data-points-to-very-low-fraud-and-significant-benefits-to-voters/

Even the conservative Heritage Foundation reported only 23 cases in Colorado since 2011, and this link includes information that all 23 resulted in a criminal conviction: https://electionfraud.heritage.org/search?state=co

In Colorado, getting caught falsifying voter registration is considered a class 2 misdemeanor. Per the Secretary of State’s website: “In addition, any individual voting in any election knowing that she or he is not entitled to vote in such election is committing a class 5 felony, punishable by imprisonment of up to three years.”

Will Amendment 84 Cost Anything Extra?

Per the Colorado Blue Book, first-year expenses to implement Amendment 84 could reach about $2.7 million in its first full year, and about $1.2 million in years to follow. Local offices like the Boulder County Clerk’s office do the lions’ share of ballot processing, and it’s anticipated that the local offices would need to spend money or staff time on issues including ballot processing, checking the ID numbers, mailing notifications, and providing voter education. The State of Colorado would reimburse about 45% of the local expense.

The Department of State (Secretary of State) would also need to spend money on voter education efforts. Amendment 84 does not include any new sources of revenue to pay for any of what’s listed above, and the Blue Book suggests it might be necessary to increase business filing fees or other fees to cover the costs.

Actual Ballot Measure Text

This ballot measure’s text is short enough to mostly include here. A small amount of legal section citations were removed for space, and ellipses (…) are inserted instead:

SECTION 1. In the constitution of the state of Colorado, add Section 13 to article VII as follows:

Section 13. Voter Authentication

1) FOR ANY FEDERAL OR STATEWIDE ELECTION, A VOTER IS REQUIRED TO AFFIX THEIR SIGNATURE AND INCLUDE EITHER THE LAST FOUR DIGITS OF THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER OR COLORADO REAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER OR COLORADO REAL IDENTIFICATION DRIVER’S LICENSE NUMBER, … ON THE SELF-AFFIRMATION OF A RETURNED MAIL BALLOT. A VOTER MAY ALTERNATIVELY INCLUDE THE LAST FOUR DIGITS OF ANOTHER FORM OF COLORADO IDENTIFICATION THAT MEETS THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE FEDERAL REAL ID ACT OF 2005 OR SUCCESSOR LEGISLATION.
IF THE VOTER FAILS TO FILL OUT ALL OR PART OF THE REQUIRED AFFIRMATION, OR IF AN ELECTION JUDGE IS UNABLE TO CONFIRM THAT THE INFORMATION PROVIDED MATCHES THE VOTER’S INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE STATEWIDE VOTER REGISTRATION DATABASE, THE COUNTY CLERK AND RECORDER OR OTHER DESIGNATED ELECTION OFFICIAL MUST SEND NOTICE TO THE VOTER INFORMING THEM OF THE PROCESS TO CORRECT THE DISCREPANCY. THE COUNTY CLERK AND RECORDER SHALL NOT COUNT THE BALLOT UNTIL THE DISCREPANCY IS CORRECTED.
(2) A DISCREPANCY MAY BE CORRECTED BY PROVIDING A COPY OF THE VOTER’S IDENTIFICATION IN SUBSECTION (1) OF THIS SECTION, US PASSPORT, US MILITARY IDENTIFICATION CARD, OR TRIBAL PHOTO IDENTIFICATION, IN PERSON OR DIGITALLY, TO THE COUNTY CLERK AND RECORDER OR OTHER DESIGNATED ELECTION OFFICIAL.
(3) NOTWITHSTANDING SUBSECTION (2) OF THIS SECTION, A VOTER WHO IS PROVIDED THE RIGHT TO VOTE OTHERWISE THAN IN PERSON UNDER SECTION (b)(2)(B)(ii) OF THE FEDERAL “VOTING ACCESSIBILITY FOR THE ELDERLY AND HANDICAPPED ACT”… MAY PROVIDE ANY FORM OF IDENTIFICATION DEEMED ACCEPTABLE UNDER SECTION 1-1-104 (19.5) OR ITS SUCCESSOR TO CORRECT A DISCREPANCY.

Proponents

  • Colorado Voter Trust Initiative (CVTI) supports Amendment 84. The committee is registered to Suzanne Taheri, one of Amendment 84’s designated representatives, and Steven Ward, who is associated with a number of other initiatives on this year’s ballot. As of early October, it had reported contributions of about $4.2 million, including $2.2 million from “Coalition For American Prosperity and Growth, Inc.,” which lists a Colorado Springs address on the Secretary of State’s website but per the Colorado Sun “has the same name as a nonprofit registered in Ohio that doesn’t reveal its donors. It was known as the Coalition for Ohio Prosperity and Growth until last year and also previously used a D.C.-area shipping business as its address.” The Denver Post also published an extensive story about this organization.  CVTI has also received $1 million from McLean, Virginia-based “A Public Voice” and $1 million from Alexandria, Virginia-based “American Jobs and Growth Fund .”

Opponents

  • Defend our Ballots Issue Committee is a committee formed to oppose Amendment 84. The committee is registered to Richard Pelletier, and the name of former Denver City Attorney Scott Martinez is also listed. As of Oct. 6, the committee had reported $171,000 in total contributions, with $121,000 of that coming from Defend Our Ballots 501 (C) (4).
  • Vote Common Sense, an organization that opposes 84 but also Amendments 81, 82, and 85 plus Props 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, has received $646,500 in total donations, including $200,000 from Washington, DC-based Green Advocacy Project, $100,000 from Merle Chambers of Denver, $65,000 from Colorado Fund For Children & Public  Education, $50,000 from Coloradans for Real Safety Solutions, $50,000 from Colorado Immigration Rights Coalition, $50,000 from Colorado WINS, and $35,000 from COBALT.

Amendment 84 Pro:

  • This might make it tougher for someone to vote somebody else’s ballot, by requiring the last four digits of identification numbers as opposed to just supplying a signature.
  • Even if voter fraud is rare, some elections are very close and nobody wants an illegal vote to tip the scales.

Amendment 84 Con:

  • This would require people who have been voting the same way for years to take one extra step to vote.
  • Some people might not know about new requirements and might have their ballots flagged, and they might not be able to rectify problems after the election so they could be disenfranchised.
  • This would add new responsibilities for elections offices and workers, potentially slowing the process down
  • Actual voter fraud in Colorado is just above nonexistent, so this an attempt to address a problem that we don’t really have.
  • The new requirements will increase costs to the state, and to county elections offices

Links to More Information

Richard’s Take

Vote NO. This would add hassle to voting and it’s not needed. The percentage of actually proven voter fraud in Colorado, relative to the numbers of ballots cast, is infinitesimally small. One of the designated representatives for Amendment 84, Suzanne Taheri, should have known this for a very long time. She served as Deputy Secretary of State under the Republican then-Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who launched investigations into voter registrations during his tenure, which wound up removing 7 people who had voted from voter rolls. Colorado usually has around 3 million people voting in major general elections, so again, we’re talking infinitesimal percentages.

I hate to guess, but I’m about to guess that the primary supporters of 84 are aware that many Coloradans don’t actually know how many voting safeguards are already in place. I really don’t want to see the TV commercials we might get suggesting that there’s some kind of free-for-all where anyone can vote and nobody catches improper voting and there are no consequences if somebody gets caught. And obviously, these messages are not just spreading in Colorado, but 84 is a Colorado measure so I don’t want to spend a lot of time on the “voting is crooked” stuff from other states or on anything President Trump is putting out on Truth Social.

Here’s a very short version of our safeguards. Voters in Colorado are already required to provide ID when they register to vote, or perhaps shortly thereafter in the case of provisional ballots which won’t be counted until clerks receive ID. Counties automatically mail ballots only to registered voters to the address currently listed on their voter registration. Election officials are already required to update voter rolls for issues like death or change of address. They’re also required to follow a gigantic amount of law from the federal and state governments (check out Title 1 of Colorado Revised Statutes or the Help American Vote Act if you need refreshers). There is post-election canvassing, along with audits, to make sure numbers match and machines worked. Voting somebody else’s ballot is already illegal, and doing so subjects a person to legal charges and penalties.

And if this whole movement really is to keep undocumented people from voting, being caught voting illegally subjects the person to deportation, per the Department of Homeland Security. Not worth it in my book!

I get to write one selfish paragraph here. I don’t want to include the last four digits of my Social Security or driver’s license numbers with my ballot. It’s partially a trust and personal security issue, plus I’ve been duly registered to vote in Colorado as of too many decades ago. I don’t need to prove my citizenship again; I don’t want to take extra unneeded steps to vote; and I want to believe the vast, vast majority of Colorado voters more or less feel the same.

Is Amendment 84 intended as a slippery slope to make tougher voter ID laws more palatable in Colorado? I don’t know, but I do know right-wing activists are attempting to make voting tougher wherever they can across the nation. Amendment 84 is very clearly a ballot measure sponsored and supported by the right wing, with so far at least $4.2 million of dark money behind it. Put one and one and one together. We don’t need this measure. Our system works. Just vote NO.