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Overseas Voting Bill Advancing at Colorado Capitol

A bill that would make it easier for Coloradans living overseas to vote is advancing at the state capitol. 

House Bill 11-1219 would direct the secretary of state’s office to establish an electronic transmission system for election materials.  That would allow Coloradans living abroad to register to vote and receive and possibly return ballots electronically.  The measure was motivated by a study done by The Pew Center on the States in 2008.

“That study showed that only 30% of overseas voters’ absentee ballots were actually sent back and counted.  Given how far below the average rate that is, it’s just really important to make sure that all of our eligible voters are enfranchised,” says one of the bill’s sponsors, Representative Claire Levy (D-Boulder). 

The bill would also require ballots going overseas to be delivered at least 45 days before an election.  Levy says that would ensure that folks in remote parts of Afghanistan to people living in Europe would get their ballots in time to fill them out and return them.  The measure passed an initial reading on the house floor yesterday with unanimous support.