New Colorado Law Enhances Protections Against Voter Discrimination

On Monday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed the Colorado Voting Rights Act (COVRA) into law, significantly bolstering protections against voting discrimination and reinforcing the right to fair and equal access to the ballot.

“Governor Polis and the Colorado legislature have made clear that they are committed to defending voters from discrimination,” Janai S. Nelson, Legal Defense Fund (LDF) president and director-counsel, said in a statement.

COVRA will safeguard the right to vote for more than 150,000 eligible Black Coloradans and other communities of color by going after racial vote dilution and voter suppression, according to the LDF. The legislation will also expand access to multilingual ballots, enhance transparency by creating a publicly accessible statewide database with key demographic and electoral information, and strengthen protections for LGBTQ voters, disabled voters, and eligible voters in county jails.

“Generations of brave activists, women, and people of color have fought for the right to vote — and now, it’s our turn,” Democratic State Sen. Julie Gonzales, one of the sponsors of the bill, said in a statement. “This law will ensure that in Colorado, no matter your gender, race, or the language you speak, your sacred right to vote is protected.”

Gonzales has emphasized that a series of legal decisions have weakened voting rights protections, raising concerns that the Trump administration and congressional Republicans may further erode the Voting Rights Act — just as they have with other civil rights protections.

“Those were hard fought protections that the civil rights movement and the Black community particularly fought and led to achieve, and to see the fact that now a generation later, we don’t know whether or how long those protections will continue to exist — we’re not just going to sit around and see what happens,” Gonzales said.

COVRA empowers the Colorado Attorney General to enforce protections for voting rights both at the state and local levels so that the state can act against violations without relying on federal courts. Voters will also be able to initiate court challenges under the act, either individually or with the support of civil rights organizations.

“The most fundamental right in a democracy is the right to vote. Since 1965, with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, there have been consistent and persistent efforts to protect this fundamental right,” said Deborah Richardson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.

Colorado has become a model for safe, open, and accessible elections, according to state lawmakers. Legislators have led efforts to expand ballot access for Indigenous voters, incarcerated people, and university students. In 2021, the state also enacted legislation expanding access to minority language ballots beyond federal requirements.

“In this time of uncertainty and national instability, Colorado is paving a different path by acting on its own to strengthen our right to vote,” Aly Belknap, executive director of Colorado Common Cause, said in a statement.