(1) Votes cast for an office to
be filled or a ballot issue to be decided shall not be counted if an elector marks more names than
there are persons to be elected to an office or if for any reason it is impossible to determine the
elector's choice of candidate or vote concerning the ballot issue; except that an elector's rankings
of multiple candidates in an election using instant runoff voting shall be recorded and counted in
accordance with section 1-7-1003 and rules promulgated by the secretary of state.
(2) A defective or an incomplete cross mark on any ballot in a proper place shall be
counted if no other cross mark appears on the ballot indicating an intention to vote for some
other candidate or ballot issue.
(3) No ballot shall be counted unless it has the official endorsement required by section
1-7-302.
(4) Ballots not counted because of the election judges' inability to determine the elector's
intent for all candidates and ballot issues shall be marked "defective" on the back, banded
together and separated from the other ballots, returned to the ballot box, and preserved by the
designated election official pursuant to section 1-7-801.
(5) When the election judges in any precinct discover in the counting of votes that the
name of any write-in candidate voted for is misspelled or omitted in part, the vote for that
candidate shall be counted if the writing meets the requirements of section 1-7-114 (1).
Source: L. 92: Entire article R&RE, p. 742, § 9, effective January 1, 1993. L. 93: (5)
amended, p. 1421, § 76, effective July 1. L. 2021: (1) amended, (HB 21-1071), ch. 367, p. 2420,
§ 11, effective July 1, 2022.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 1-7-309 as it existed prior to 1992.
Cross references: For the form of ballots, see §§ 1-5-407, 1-5-408, 1-7-304 (1), and 1-7-
503 (1); for the method of counting paper ballots, see § 1-7-307.
PART 4
VOTING MACHINES
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
4
cases, 1989–2014 · leading case:
Moran v. Carlstrom, 775 P.2d 1176 (Colo. 1989).
Moran v. Carlstrom, 775 P.2d 1176 (Colo. 1989).
· cites it 138× “The district court held that the four ballots were "defective" within the meaning of section 1-7-309, 1B C.R.S. (1980), because the voter in each case had marked in ink more names than there were persons to be elected to an office.”
Meyer v. Lamm, 846 P.2d 862 (Colo. 1993).
· cites it 44× “We evaluated the validity of the ballots against section 1-7-309, which provided that "a ballot may not be counted `[i]f a voter marks in ink or indelible pencil more names than there are persons to be elected to an office or if for any reason it is impossible to determine the…”
Hanlen v. Gessler, 333 P.3d 41 (Colo. 2014).
· cites it 4× “Figueroa cites to section 1-7-309(1), C.R.S. (2013), which prohibits the counting of votes "if an elector marks more names than there are persons to be elected to an office or if for any reason it is impossible to determine the elector's choice of candidate.”
Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000).
“2000); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 1-7-309 (1) (1999) (standard for paper ballots), § 1-7-508(2) (standard for electronic ballots); Del.”
— Colo. Rev. Stat. § 1-7-309(1) — 1 case
Hanlen v. Gessler, 333 P.3d 41 (Colo. 2014).
“Figueroa cites to section 1-7-309(1), C.R.S. (2013), which prohibits the counting of votes "if an elector marks more names than there are persons to be elected to an office or if for any reason it is impossible to determine the elector's choice of candidate.”
— Colo. Rev. Stat. § 1-7-309(3) — 1 case
Meyer v. Lamm, 846 P.2d 862 (Colo. 1993).
“We evaluated the validity of the ballots against section 1-7-309, which provided that "a ballot may not be counted `[i]f a voter marks in ink or indelible pencil more names than there are persons to be elected to an office or if for any reason it is impossible to determine the…”
— Colo. Rev. Stat. § 1-7-309(4) — 1 case
Hanlen v. Gessler, 333 P.3d 41 (Colo. 2014).
“Figueroa cites to section 1-7-309(1), C.R.S. (2013), which prohibits the counting of votes "if an elector marks more names than there are persons to be elected to an office or if for any reason it is impossible to determine the elector's choice of candidate.”
— Colo. Rev. Stat. § 1-7-309(5) — 1 case
Meyer v. Lamm, 846 P.2d 862 (Colo. 1993).
“We evaluated the validity of the ballots against section 1-7-309, which provided that "a ballot may not be counted `[i]f a voter marks in ink or indelible pencil more names than there are persons to be elected to an office or if for any reason it is impossible to determine the…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.