Disabled Voting in Colorado
November 3, 2026
By Lyza Weisman
It can be very difficult for people with disabilities to have privacy while voting. Depending on their disability, they may be unable to fill out their ballot, read their ballot, get to polling locations, or experience other difficulties when voting. Recognizing this, Colorado has recognized disabled individuals’ right to vote privately and independently. To ensure this right is protected, Colorado has implemented multiple laws to improve access.
Federal and state laws require that every polling location be handicap-accessible, should disabled voters choose to vote in person. When voting in person or at home, disabled voters are always allowed to take their time, have access to assistance, and bring their service animal. For someone with a disability, voting in person cannot always be accomplished independently. Until 2024, when specialized accessibility voting machines were made available to disabled voters, some disabled individuals had never had the privilege of turning in their own ballot without another helping them fill it out (given physical limitations causing inability to read a ballot or fill it out). Many people feel discomfort asking for help. Employers and union representatives are not allowed to help disabled voters during this process. When disabled voters choose to vote by mail – where their friends, family, and caregivers can provide assistance – this can have its own challenges if an individual would rather their friends and family not know their exact voting preferences or does not trust them to fill out their ballot.
The vast majority of Coloradoans vote by mail—Colorado is one of eight states to conduct voting by mail statewide. But Colorado makes special provisions to enable disabled voters to vote in person at accessible voting locations equipped with machines specifically designed for individuals with disabilities. These machines have a wide variety of interfaces and controllers to accommodate a range of visual, reading, and other physical disabilities. For example, someone with limited vision could have access to a screen reader or a braille display if needed. More physically-limited individuals who cannot physically use a computer mouse will be able to use voice recognition software. These voting devices record the voter’s choices on the ballot, count it, and then turn it in after being finalized. The ballots are then counted by hand by polling staff. By law, every polling center in Colorado must have at least one of these specialized machines for disabled voters. This change occurred following Colorado’s $50,000 investment in upgraded equipment and software for the 2024 election. This improvement empowered many individuals with the freedom and dignity that voting independently, without an aide, affords. Some, however, may consider this a large investment, since 92.2% of the ballots cast were mail-in ballots and not in-person voters. That said, for the disabled community, the difference is that of independence.
The most recent right Colorado granted to individuals with disabilities is the electronic ballot. This enables disabled voters to fill out their ballot online, print it, and either turn it in at an official polling center or ballot box or mail it in. This option is especially helpful to some disabled voters who are unable to easily complete a paper ballot. The electronic portal is open to eligible disabled voters twenty-two days before the election.
Additionally, since 2022, if a disabled individual is hospitalized, in a nursing home, or out of state, they may request an absentee ballot. Section 1-2-103 of the Colorado Revised Statutes provides that a person eligible to vote, even if institutionalized in a mental institution, may still vote if they so choose. Should something go amiss in any of the voting procedures above, Colorado allows disabled voters to correct their ballots if necessary.
Several concerns regarding accommodations for disabled voters persist to varying degrees, depending on the voting mechanism employed. The primary concerns include: authentication; ensuring that the ballot reflects the disabled individual’s intent, not another’s; privacy, considering many disabled individuals complete their ballot with another’s assistance, meaning their vote is not completely anonymous; cybersecurity risks associated with online delivery of ballots; and lastly, voter coercion, the worry that disabled voters could be swayed by those assisting them into voting against their true will.
Electronic voting has made voting independently at home significantly easier for the disabled, lessening the need for handicap-accessible voting machines at polling centers. Especially given that less than 7.8% of Colorado’s voters vote in person, electronic voting allows individuals access to their own accessibility technology and the option to vote independently, without assistance or the need to leave home.
Having the right to vote when, where, and how you want is still extremely important and a recognized right by the state of Colorado. Progress has been made. Colorado has been steadily working toward leveling the voting rights of the able-bodied and disabled. Colorado is in good company; thirty-two states also allow for mail-in and electronic voting for the disabled, and some if not all the other accommodations mentioned in this article.
Disabled voters in Colorado are getting closer to an equal playing field, but there is still more progress to be made.