Colorado recently became the first state in the nation to pass a law requiring county jails and detention centers to create makeshift polling locations for those being held but have not yet been convicted to vote in person during general elections.

Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 72 on May 31. The new law, which went into effect with his signature and will apply to the 2024 general election, says county jails and detention centers must offer at least one in-person voting day of at least six hours for eligible confined voters. The voting day will occur up to four days before Election Day, ensuring county clerk staff are available for Election Day duties.

The law states that county sheriffs must work with the county clerk and recorder’s office on in-person voting and set up a mail ballot collection and “ballot curing system” inside the jail. Confined voters must receive voting information and can also register to vote.

The bill divided county clerks, some of whom called it an unfunded mandate, and it was opposed by sheriffs who cited the bill’s civil penalties of $5,000 per violation for jails that did not comply.

Supporters, meanwhile, said it’s about access to a fundamental right.

Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, pointed out during the bill’s trip through the legislature that the issue is one of the resources, especially for smaller counties. The bill provides $167,000 to cover the costs of setting up mail ballot boxes, voting equipment and staffing. That’s less than $3,500 per county.

He also suggested a scenario in which a sheriff could be on the ballot and indicated that doing so might create undue influence.

Those eligible to vote are generally incarcerated pre-trial — meaning they have not been convicted of a crime or are serving sentences in a county jail for misdemeanors.

Counties that have long offered voting for inmates cited low participation. In Douglas and El Paso counties, for example, only one person at each jail voted in the last election, although hundreds were eligible.

That contrasts with Denver’s voting history. In the 2023 mayoral election, 58.7% of eligible incarcerated inmates voted.

Allowing jail inmates to vote is not new. In 1974, according to The Sentencing Project, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the voting rights of those incarcerated in jails under certain circumstances.

According to the state’s Department of Public Safety, about 9,200 individuals were incarcerated in the first three months of 2024 in the 49 counties that operate jails across Colorado.