DENVER – Colorado voters will be able to fix any signature discrepancies during the ballot curing process on their smartphones this year through a new texting program formally announced on Wednesday.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced the TXT2Cure program Wednesday, which she said is another tool that voters can use to cure the discrepancy if election judges determine the signature on their ballot does not closely enough match the signature in the voter’s file.
“While our mail ballot rejection rates due to signature discrepancy are low, a disproportionate number of young people are impacted. TXTt2Cure will help ensure more Colorado voices are heard,” Griswold said in a statement.
Under the new program, if a voter is notified by their county election office that they have a signature discrepancy on their ballot, they can text the word “Colorado” to 2VOTE (28683). The voter will receive a reply with a link to click.
Once the link is opened, the person will enter their voter ID number that is printed on the rejection notice, confirm they submitted a ballot, sign the affidavit on their phone, take a picture of their legal photo ID and submit the information.
A person will have to submit those items before midnight Nov. 12 for their ballot to be counted.
The bipartisan election judges are the ones who determine whether or not the signature on a ballot matches the signature in the person’s voter file. If they determine it doesn’t, county election officers are notified, the ballot is not opened, and county clerks have three days, or two days after Election Day, to notify to voter of the discrepancy by mail.
That mail notice will include information on how to return the paper affidavit included or how to use the TXT2Cure system, the secretary of state’s office said.
The Denver Post first reported on the new system late last month. Griswold’s office said that the system recently passed a cyber test showing it is ready for use in coming weeks. Three counties have previously used the system and 16 others piloted the program during June’s primaries.
In 2018, 0.52% of all Colorado ballots were rejected because of discrepancies, but the rejection rate among voters ages 18-19 was 1.8%. Griswold says the new system is aimed at making it easier and more likely for younger voters to correctly cure any discrepancies.
Colorado voters can also sign up for BallotTrax to track their ballots, and Denver voters can do the same through BallotTrace to receive text and email updates on the status of their ballots.
Ballots will start being mailed out to voters statewide this coming Friday, which is also the date of the U.S. Senate debate hosted by Denver7, The Denver Post and CPR News.
For more Colorado election and voting resources, head over to our Election Guide page.
