Alternative voter registration methods popular in Colorado

How are signing up for food stamps, getting your driver's license or using a government office that helps people who have disabilities connected to voting?

While the majority of residents who register to vote in Colorado fill out a form online at , according to data from the Secretary of State's Office, alternative methods also have proven to be an important avenue to casting a ballot in Colorado.

The second most popular way registration occurs statewide happens through the Division of Motor Vehicles. At the same time residents obtain or renew a driver's license or state-issued identification card, or file a change of address, they're automatically signed up to vote — if they aren't already on the rolls.

The format, known as Automatic Voter Registration, is sanctioned under both federal and state laws.

And it's part of the reason the number of unaffiliated voters in Colorado has reached an all-time high because voters who are automatically registered also are automatically categorized as unaffiliated voters and must actively take steps if they want to change their status to a party affiliation.

In El Paso County, unaffiliated voters became the majority in March, comprising more than 50% of all active voters and topping the number of voters registered as Republican or Democrat combined.

That remains the case; as of Oct. 14, the county Clerk and Recorder's Office showed that 50.52% of 485,853 registered voters were unaffiliated, 29.71%, or 144,353 voters, declared affiliation with the Republican Party, and 17.3% or 84,042 voters, claimed allegiance to the Democratic Party.

Eight minor parties reflect a small share of voters, as well, from 1.18% registered as Libertarian to 0.01% of Colorado Forward voters.

As of Oct. 1, more than 3.9 million active voters were registered to vote, according to the Secretary of State's Office. Of those, 1.9 million are registered as unaffiliated, 1.02 million Democratic Party members and nearly 911,000 Republican Party members.

The setup is part of the "Democracy Package" that Colorado lawmakers passed in 2019 and one that Secretary of State Jena Griswold said made voter registration easy and accessible during the 2020 presidential race, the first year of government restrictions under the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wayne Williams, who held the secretary of state's seat before Griswold and who also has served on the El Paso Board of County Commissioners and Colorado Springs City Council, agrees that the opportunities expand the voter rolls, particularly through the Division of Motor Vehicles.

The method had nearly tripled the number of voters registered annually since its implementation.

In the first year of Colorado's Automatic Voter Registration System from May 2020 to June 2021, just over 250,000 people had been registered to vote.

This year, from Jan. 1 through September, a total of more than 1.1 million voters had registered to vote in Colorado; of those, nearly 736,000 were automatically signed up through the Division of Motor Vehicles.

"It's a very good thing because you get everything you want with respect to driver's licenses: You know who they are, you have proof of their identity — all hallmarks of what you want in a good registration system," said Williams, who served as secretary of state from January 2015 to January 2019. The movement to use the Automatic Voter Registration began under his term.

But Williams said he doesn't like that unaffiliated is the default position and that voters have to take action to declare a political affiliation.

While unaffiliated voters can cast ballots for either Democratic or Republican parties in the primary races, they are not eligible to sign public petitions for proposed ballot issues or attend party caucuses.

"Which is where many of the decisions are made," Williams said of the latter. "If nobody petitions onto the ballot, the entire election may be decided at the caucuses."

Also, voters who are automatically signed up and do not want to be signed up must take action to reverse the registration after receiving a confirmation postcard in the mail after the registration is processed, which is also when they can declare a party affiliation.

The Secretary of State's Office does not track how many unaffiliated voters registered through Automatic Voter Registration switch to a party affiliation, said Kailee Stiles, an office spokeswoman.

Another method of registering to vote falls under the 31-year-old National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Anyone who signs up, renews, or files an address change for food stamps, welfare benefits, Medicaid, the state's health insurance program for children and the child care assistance program at the Department of Human Services can also register to vote by filling out a paper form at the same time as applying for public benefits.

The law also applies to armed forces recruitment offices, government offices that offer services for people with disabilities and other government agencies such as libraries and schools.

However, "voter registration information is not associated with DHS-assistance cases," said El Paso County Department of Human Services spokeswoman Kristina Iodice. "This is part of a law — it's not our primary responsibility."

Human services' clients who want to register to vote must meet voter registration requirements, she said, such as presenting valid identification to show they are citizens.

By law, employees cannot influence an applicant's preference or party registration, display any political preference or party allegiance, or discourage any applicant from registering.

DHS sends completed applications to the county Clerk and Recorder's Office every five days, and as the election nears, forms are forwarded every business day, Iodice said.

The number of voters who make their way into the election system that way is much smaller than through the driver's license process.

Statewide, from Jan. 1 through September, 3,524 people had registered through the Department of Human Services, offices that assist people with disabilities and other government offices, according to state data.

"Most people, by the time they are applying for benefits already have either a driver's license or state ID card, so they would have been registered through that process," Williams said.

If the applicant does not mark a box for party affiliation at the DHS office, the applicant's status also defaults to unaffiliated.