DENVER–A proposed constitutional amendment requiring Colorado voters to include identification numbers on their mail-in ballots has qualified for the November 3 general election, the secretary of state’s office announced Wednesday.
Initiative #362, titled “Mail Ballot Voter Identification,” amends the Colorado Constitution to add new voter authentication requirements for the state’s all-mail voting system. Backers turned in over 180,000 signatures, with just over 133,300 validated by the state, well above the roughly 124,200 threshold, including the 2 percent of registered voters from each of Colorado’s 35 state senate districts needed for constitutional measures.
The initiatives two proponents bring considerable elections credentials to the campaign. Suzanne Taheri (previously Suzanne Staiert), served as deputy secretary of state under Republican Wayne Williams, helping oversee Colorado’s elections during the state’s transition to universal mail voting and later working as an election attorney. Chuck Broerman spent nearly a decade as the elected clerk and recorder of El Paso County (2015 to 2023) where he ran elections, earning national and state election-official certifications, before moving on to serve as the county’s elected treasurer.
If passed, the measure would require voters returning mail ballots to sign the self-affirmation and provide either the last four digits of their Social Security number or their Colorado driver’s license or identification number. Voters could also use another form of Colorado ID that meets federal REAL ID Act standards.
Ballots missing that information, or where a mismatch turns up against the state’s voter registration database, would not be thrown out outright. Instead, county clerks would be required to notify the voter and give them a chance to “cure” the discrepancy, essentially the same process Colorado already uses for mismatched signatures.
Colorado currently verifies mail ballots through signature comparison alone. Initiative #362 layers on an additional identification requirement on top of that process.
Supporters can point to documented cases of problems of abuse with the existing system. Heritage Foundation data counts at least 23 people convicted of voter fraud in Colorado since 2005, and in 2024 at least a dozen mail ballots were stolen and fraudulently completed in Mesa County, resulting in a pair of arrests and at least one guilty plea, though it was signature verification that flagged those ballots to begin with.
As a constitutional change, the measure needs a supermajority 55 percent-plus-one of the vote.
Colorado’s general election is November 3.
