DENVER — Some key election deadlines are coming up this week that will move Colorado closer to determining the final tallies in the 2022 election — including in some closely watched races that are still too close to call.
Wednesday is perhaps the most important deadline of the week. It is the last day for voters to cure signature discrepancies on their ballot, a process known as “curing” ballots.
Voters should have been contacted by their county clerks if they needed to cure their ballot and have their signature verified.
That process is likely to be a determining factor in who wins the 3rd Congressional District race between Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert and Democrat Adam Frisch and whether it goes to a recount.
In order for a race to go to an automatic recount in Colorado, the margin between the top two candidates has to be equal to or less than 0.5% of the leader’s vote total. As of Tuesday morning, the spread between Boebert and Frisch was 0.69%, outside of the automatic recall margin.
The Proposition 125 race has also yet to be called by The Associated Press as of Tuesday morning, though the yes votes led the no votes by about 22,000 votes.
Wednesday is also the last day for county clerks to receive any outstanding military and overseas ballots for tabulation and counting.
On Friday, counties must finish tabulating in-person and accepted mail ballots and must finishing the counting of provisional ballots cast last Tuesday. The random 20-digit seed for the Risk Limiting Audit will also be generated Friday.
County audit boards will have until Nov. 29 to report the results of the Risk Limiting Audit to the Secretary of State’s Office, and canvass boards will have to submit the official vote abstract to the office by Nov. 30.
The Secretary of State’s Office then has until Dec. 5 to certify the election. Candidates can request a recount by Dec. 6, which they would have to pay for. In the event any race goes to a mandatory recount, it would have to be completed by Dec. 13. Any requested recount would have to be finished by Dec. 15.
