Colorado Election Security

Election Defense in Depth

Colorado elections do not rely on one person, one machine, or one safeguard. Every stage is protected by overlapping controls that prevent problems, create evidence, detect discrepancies, and support recovery.

Paper evidence Separation of duties Public transparency Independent verification

Security that follows the ballot

Election security begins well before a ballot is issued and continues after results are certified. Select a stage below to see the safeguards in place, how the work is checked, and what evidence remains available for review.

What defense in depth means If one safeguard does not work as intended, another layer is positioned to prevent, detect, document, or correct the problem. No single technical claim can be evaluated in isolation from the paper ballots, reconciliation records, access controls, observers, audits, and certification process around it.

The election lifecycle

Explore each layer

The categories follow the election from voter registration through certification and records retention.

Present at every stage

Five protections that run through the entire election

These safeguards do not belong to a single step. They reinforce the whole system from preparation through certification.

People and procedures

Training, assigned roles, separation of duties, and bipartisan participation reduce reliance on any single person.

Physical security

Restricted access, seals, surveillance, inventories, and documented chain of custody protect ballots and equipment.

Cybersecurity

Network separation, access controls, secure configuration, monitoring, backups, and incident response protect systems and data.

Transparency

Public testing, watchers, records, published reports, audits, and bipartisan boards make the process observable and reviewable.

Continuity and recovery

Contingency plans, redundant processes, paper records, and retained evidence allow election work to continue and results to be verified.

When a concern is raised

A specific claim can be tested against specific evidence

Election security does not depend on asking the public to trust a single assurance. A credible concern identifies a particular election, system, record, or discrepancy and follows the evidence through these steps.

Step 1Define the concern

Identify the jurisdiction, election, process, date, and claimed effect.

Step 2Preserve the evidence

Secure the ballots, logs, video, reports, access records, and chain-of-custody documentation.

Step 3Compare independent records

Check paper ballots, voter and ballot accounting, cast-vote records, and system reports.

Step 4Correct and document

Resolve the issue through audit, canvass, recount, investigation, or other established procedures.

Colorado election results are supported by paper ballots, documented procedures, bipartisan oversight, reconciliation, audits, and certification.
Sources and further reading