The Colorado Voting Rights Act will protect the access Colorado voters have today, shielding us from the dismantling of the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA), federal and state administration changes, and any future attempts to undermine our fair and accessible elections.

The Colorado Voting Rights Act will:

• Protect the private right of action, so that voters and organizations have standing to challenge unfair voting rules, even if the Supreme Court overturns it federally.
• Create new protections in state law for marginalized voters that expand beyond the federal VRA, including LGBT voters and voters with disabilities.
• Build a pathway through the Colorado Courts to challenge unfair election rules and practices that impair the equal ability to vote.
• Make it easier for communities of color to challenge unfair district maps or other election rules that dilute their voting power.
• Improve Colorado’s ability to monitor voter access and participation across our state and between communities, by establishing a public elections database.

  Sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Rep. Jennifer Bacon, Sen. Julie Gonzales, and Rep. Junie Joseph

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 as a landmark achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, created to enforce the 15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that prohibited states from denying the right to vote based on race.

SEC. 2. No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is under attack. The U.S. Supreme Court has delivered devastating rulings that have overturned key provisions, and if the private right of action is overturned, voters and organizations will no longer be able to take legal action to enforce the Voting Rights Act. Over the next four years of another Trump administration, our federal courts will only become more stacked against voting rights cases, and anti-democratic officials will become more organized in their efforts to chip away at the VRA.

In 2022, the Colorado General Assembly adopted a resolution urging Congress to respond to attacks on the right to vote by strengthening the VRA. But Colorado doesn’t need to wait for Congress: we can protect and strengthen the right to vote in our state by passing our own voting rights act.

We will build upon the protections offered by the Federal Voting Rights Act, while making it easier to fight and remedy voting rights violations. The Colorado Voting Rights Act will help create a more equitable democracy by ensuring that communities of color must be given equitable political power, down to the local level.

Steering Committee

Colorado Common Cause
Mi Familia Vota of Colorado
League of Women Voters of Colorado
Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition (CCJRC) Colorado Black Women for Political Action
State Innovation Exchange (SiX)
Disability Law Colorado
ACLU of Colorado
Sam Cary Bar Association

Endorsements

Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy & Research Organization (CLLARO)
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Soul 2 Soul Sisters
Citizens Project
New Era Colorado
Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC) Western Colorado Alliance
Movimiento Poder
Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR)
Colorado Cross Disability Coalition (CCDC) Colorado Latinos Vote
Native American Rights Fund (NARF)
Campaign Legal Center
Colorado Foundation for Universal Healthcare Colorado Fiscal Institute (CFI)
RepresentWomen
Arc of Colorado
Center for People With Disabilities
Colorado Coalition for the Homeless
The Foundation for Sustainable Urban Communities