Denver Office of the Clerk and Recorder

• Provisional Voting
• Accessibility of Polling Places
• Criminal Convictions and Voting
• Homeless Voters
• Students Away From Home
• Emergency Registration
• Voting and Dementia

The federal Help America Vote Act mandates that no voter be turned away without the ability to cast a ballot. Whenever a voter’s registration, identification or residency is in question, the voter is given a ballot nevertheless.  

This voted and sealed ballot is then marked "provisional" and secured separately from other ballots. After Election Day, the voter registrations of provisional ballots are researched. If a registration is deemed valid, the ballot is counted. If deemed invalid, the ballot is not counted.   

Provisional ballots may be obtained at a voter service center during their normal hours of operation.

In order to register to vote a homeless person must provide a physical address.

This may include a homeless shelter, a homeless provider, a park, a campground, a vacant lot, a business address, or any other physical location within a precinct that the voter considers his or her home base, to which the voter returns regularly and has an intent to remain.

If the physical location does not include a mailing address, the homeless voter must also provide a mailing address.

A Post Office box can be used as a mailing address as long as the voter provides a valid physical Denver address as their residential address.

• You also need a valid ID. If you don't have one, here's how to obtain a Colorado State ID.

People convicted of misdemeanors do not lose their right to vote. Those convicted of felonies regain their right to vote once incarceration and any parole have been completed.

Here are two resources to help you understand your rights:

• Voting and Convictions FAQ on the Colorado Secretary of State website
• Voting eligibility brochure from the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition 
• Denver Charter: Click on Subtitle B-Charter, then navigate to Section 8.2.1.
• Colorado Revised Statutes: Click on Colorado Revised Statutes, then type 1-2-103 into the search window.

You may register to vote in an election after the voter registration deadline has passed if you appear in person at the Denver Elections Division, declare under oath that you wish to vote in the election and precinct for which the deadline was missed, and attest under oath to one of the following conditions:

• You applied to register to vote prior to the deadline using a federal postcard application or mail registration application.
• You registered with a voter registration drive prior to the deadline and are able to produce a receipt from the registration form you filled out or state the location of the voter registration drive and provide an approximate date that you filled out the registration form.
• You registered at another agency under the National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter): Department of Motor Vehicles, Human Services, Social Services etc.