"I voted" stickers are seen at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library polling location in Denver on Jan. 25, 2024. (Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline)
People with a felony conviction can vote in Colorado once they have completed their sentence in custody.
This story is the first in a series on voting basics in Colorado.
While someone confined and serving a felony sentence loses the right to vote, they are able to re-register and vote once they make parole. A 2019 Colorado law returned the right to vote to parolees.
“As long as you’re not sitting in a prison or a jail serving a felony sentence, you are eligible to vote,” said Kyle Giddings, civic engagement coordinator at the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.
The only exception, Giddings said, is for someone on “inmate status” at a halfway house. He said this is an administrative distinction used by the Colorado Department of Corrections when someone’s parole plan isn’t finalized yet, but they’re already released and living in a halfway house.
“The individual is able to go to work, go home on the weekends — has all the rights of someone that’s on parole, but isn’t able to vote, which we’re working on changing this next legislative session,” Giddings said.
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Anyone in jail awaiting trial or serving a sentence for a misdemeanor conviction also retains the right to vote, according to the Colorado secretary of state’s office. The Colorado Legislature passed a law this year requiring counties to hold a day of in-person voting in jails.
The right to vote is determined based on one’s state of residence, so if someone was convicted of a felony in another state and lives in Colorado, they are eligible to vote. In some states, someone who has a felony conviction doesn’t get to vote until they complete parole and probation. Other states require additional steps after someone is released to regain eligibility, or permanently bar someone with a felony conviction from voting.
It’s really important that once they do go home, that they know that their voice does matter and that they can contribute to their community and the decisions being made about them and their families by being able to cast a ballot.
– Kyle Giddings, of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition
Giddings said the CCJRC has worked with the Arapahoe County parole office to make sure registering to vote is included as a part of people’s reentry. While someone won’t get an official notice that they are eligible to vote again, at their first parole meeting they should receive information about their voting rights, how to register, how to obtain voter information material, and how to obtain and cast a ballot.
“It’s really important that once they do go home, that they know that their voice does matter and that they can contribute to their community and the decisions being made about them and their families by being able to cast a ballot,” Giddings said. “When we look at the ballot coming up in 2024, there’s several criminal justice reform ballot initiatives … and individuals that have dealt with the criminal justice system should have a voice.”
Two initiatives awaiting signature review from the secretary of state’s office for inclusion on the November ballot relate to criminal justice and law enforcement. Initiative 112, a “truth in sentencing” measure, would make people convicted of certain violent crimes ineligible for parole until they have served at least 85% of their sentence. Initiative 157 would make a one-time appropriation of $350 million to a new police officer training fund under the Colorado Department of Public Safety.
The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit that advocates for minimizing imprisonment and criminalization, released a report last week that says the voting ban for people serving felony sentences in Colorado disproportionately affects people of color. It says Black Coloradans are more than six times as likely as white residents to be in prison, and Latino Coloradans are more than twice as likely to be in prison.
“The law restricting Colorado’s citizens from voting while incarcerated for a felony conviction undermines Colorado’s democracy and extends the racial injustice embedded in the criminal legal system to its electoral system,” the report reads.
Maine, Vermont, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. never remove the right to vote for someone serving a felony sentence, according to the report.
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