With an eye on the 2026 election cycle and mounting tensions with the Trump administration, Colorado lawmakers are fast-tracking a pair of election bills they say will protect the state’s mail ballot system and tighten rules for elected officials.

The measures, one that expands ballot access timelines and another that bars lawmakers from holding multiple elected offices, cleared their originating chambers this week.

The House, on a party-line vote, signed off on House Bill 1113. While much of the bill is an annual clean-up of elections law, it also aims to address concerns that ballots mailed to county clerks by voters through the U.S. Postal Service could be delayed by recent rule changes supported by the Trump administration.

Specifically, the Postal Service will no longer postmark mail on the day it is received, leading several groups to worry that voters will need to mail their ballots days in advance to account for the new postmark rule. 

According to Bolts, a digital magazine covering politics, 14 states and the District of Columbia require that mail ballots be postmarked by a specific day, often Election Day. 

Colorado, however, is not one of them. According to the Secretary of State’s elections calendar and state law, county clerks must receive all ballots by 7 p.m. on election day in order to be counted.

As for ballots cast by military and overseas voters, they must be sent no later than 7 p.m. on election day and they must received by end of business on the 8th day after the election.

Under HB 1113, drop-off locations for ballot boxes will be ready for ballots 22 days before the election, up from 15 days in the current law.

Ballots would be mailed to voters 29 days before the primary and general elections, up from 22 days. Both are intended to give voters more time to submit their ballots. 

The bill also removes mail as an acceptable method for submitting certain information. 

That includes notifying election judges that they’ve been appointed and accepting that appointment or using mail for the Secretary of State to send county clerks a written certificate of the ballot order and content for each county.

During testimony on HB 1113 last month, co-sponsor Rep. Emily Sirota, D-Denver, said the bill is largely a technical cleanup but added it will address other issues, such as long lines sometimes found at voting service centers.

According to Sirota, much of the bill came from the county clerks. 

Rep. Chad Clifford, chair of the House State, Civic, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, ready from an email circulated to members that claimed that the measure, in fact, proposes more than just a “clean up.”

“This is not a modernization bill; it makes sweeping changes to election systems,” including lengthening ballot circulation timelines, expanding drop box access, and weakening voter challenge mechanisms, Clifford quoted the the email as saying.

Sirota said the intent was to increase access but disagreed with the other assertions in the email. 

“Stolen elections have consequences and you are the proof,” said Jeany Rush, who frequently testifies on election bills and who dedicated her testimony to convicted felon and former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.

Candice Stuztreim of Colorado Springs, a canvass board member in El Paso County, called the bill the Secretary of State’s “parting gesture” as an effort to claw back territory in response to federal attempts to enact greater scrutiny over elections. 

Other witnesses testified they didn’t like the expansion of drop box availability or the addition of more days to return ballots. 

Members of the Colorado County Clerk and Recorder Association testified in an amend position, supporting changes offered by the sponsors and as suggested by the clerks. 

On Monday, Republicans offered a half-dozen amendments during debate on the floor; none of them passed.

Rep. Mary Bradfield, R-Colorado Springs, offered an amendment to require the Secretary of State to verify voter change-of-address information through a third-party credit bureau.

That was contained in a bill the state affairs committee rejected on Feb. 23. 

HB 1113 won preliminary approval on Monday and a final 41-22 vote on Tuesday.

The second election bill to move from its original chamber is Senate Bill 59, which would bar future members of the Colorado General Assembly from serving in more than one elected office at a time.

Five current legislators have served in more than one office. At least two — Reps. Max Brooks, R-Castle Rock, and Lori Goldstein, D-Westminster — currently hold more than one elected office. 

The bill had a quick hearing on Feb. 24 and was added to the Senate’s Monday consent calendar, meaning the sponsors didn’t expect any opposition or debate. 

Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Littleton, offered an amendment to ensure the bill did not affect current lawmakers and to add an exemption for special districts or lawmakers with less than a year remaining in another elected office. 

“When you’re in this building, your constituents need your full attention,” said Sen. Matt Ball, D-Denver, who also raised the concern around conflicts of interest.

 “We owe it to the people we represent,” Ball said, adding they are the boss.

SB 59 passed on a 26-9 vote on Tuesday.