§ C.R.S. § 1-4-1203Presidential primary elections - when - conduct

(1) A presidential primary
election shall be held on a Tuesday on a date designated by the governor. The date selected for
the primary must be no earlier than the date the national rules of the major political parties
provide for state delegations to the party's national convention to be allocated without penalty
and not later than the third Tuesday in March in years in which a United States Presidential
Election will be held. The governor shall, in consultation with the secretary of state, designate
the date of the presidential primary election no later than the first day of September in the year
before the presidential primary election will be held.
(2) (a) Except as provided for in subsection (5) of this section, each political party that
has a qualified candidate entitled to participate in the presidential primary election pursuant to
this section is entitled to participate in the Colorado presidential primary election. At the
presidential primary election, an elector that is affiliated with a political party may vote only for
a candidate of that political party.
(b) An unaffiliated eligible elector may vote in a political party's presidential primary
election without affiliating with that party or may declare an affiliation with a political party to
the election judges at the presidential primary election in accordance with section 1-7-201.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no elector affiliated with a major or minor political
party or political organization may change or withdraw his or her affiliation in order to vote in
the presidential primary election of another political party unless the elector has changed or
withdrawn such affiliation no later than the twenty-second day preceding the presidential
primary election as provided in section 1-2-219 (1).
(3) Except as otherwise provided in this part 12, a presidential primary election must be
conducted in the same manner as any other primary election to the extent statutory provisions
governing other primary elections are applicable to this part 12. The election officers and county
clerk and recorders have the same powers and shall perform the same duties for presidential
primary elections as they provide by law for other primary elections and general elections.
(4) (a) A ballot used in a presidential primary election must only contain the names of
candidates for the office of the president of the United States of America. The ballot shall not be
used for the purpose of presenting any other issue or question to the electorate unless expressly
authorized by law.
(b) Each political party that is entitled to participate in the presidential primary election
shall have a separate party ballot for use by electors affiliated with that political party.
(c) The county clerk and recorder shall send to all active electors in the county who have
not declared an affiliation with a political party a ballot packet that contains the ballots of all the
major political parties. In this ballot packet, the clerk shall also provide written instructions
advising the elector of the manner in which the elector will be in compliance with the
Colorado Revised Statutes 2024
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requirements of this code in selecting and casting the ballot of a major political party. An elector
may cast the ballot of only one major political party. After selecting and casting a ballot of a
single major political party, the elector shall return the ballot to the clerk. If an elector casts and
returns to the clerk the ballot of more than one major political party, all such ballots returned will
be rejected and will not be counted.
(d) The secretary of state may by rule adopt additional ballot requirements necessary to
avoid voter confusion in voting in presidential primary elections.
(5) If, at the close of business on the sixtieth day before a presidential primary election,
every political party has no more than one candidate for president affiliated with the political
party who is certified to the presidential primary ballot pursuant to section 1-4-1204 (1) or who
has filed a write-in candidate statement of intent pursuant to section 1-4-1205, the secretary of
state may cancel the presidential primary election for all political parties and declare the
candidate for each political party the winner of the presidential primary election for that political
party.
(6) The secretary of state may by rule adopt additional ballot requirements necessary to
avoid voter confusion in voting in presidential primary elections.
(7) Repealed.