Colorado voters reject mail-in ballot ID requirement in Tuesday election

Colorado voters rejected a set of three conservative-backed constitutional amendments on Tuesday, with one measure failing by a wide margin and the others missing the approval threshold. As of 10:55 p.m., Amendment 84 had failed, while Amendments 85 and 86 remained close but did not reach the 55% approval required for adoption.

Amendment 84 proposed requiring voters to include the last four digits of an identification number on the envelope of their mail-in ballot for state and federal elections. The measure failed with nearly 64% of voters opposed. Under the proposed rule, county election offices would have been required to contact voters who omitted the ID number to provide instructions for curing the ballot. Currently, voters are only required to sign their ballots.

Supporters of Amendment 84 argued that the additional identification requirement was necessary to maintain the integrity of elections. Opponents described the measure as an attempt to cast doubt on Colorado's electoral system, which they noted has been among the safest and most effective in the nation.

Amendment 85, which received 50.5% of the vote, would have mandated that ballot proposals be written at an eighth-grade reading level. Proponents, including the conservative dark-money group Advance Colorado, contended that current ballot questions are needlessly complex and that the average voter cannot fully understand them. Critics argued the measure would serve to block recent efforts to add financial transparency to ballot language.

Amendment 86, which received 46% approval, would have required the state’s independent redistricting commission and the state Supreme Court to approve any congressional district maps drawn outside the normal once-a-decade cycle. The Colorado Constitution currently limits redistricting to a once-a-decade process.

The proposal gained traction after Republicans in Texas changed their rules last year to draw new boundaries mid-decade, triggering similar efforts across the country. Backers of Amendment 86, including Advance Colorado, said the measure was necessary to ensure a fair review process during off-cycle redistricting. Democratic groups argued the amendment would lock Colorado’s districts in place while other states pursued aggressive partisan remapping to create more safe seats for their majority parties.

Progressive groups opposed all three amendments, citing concerns that they would chill mail-in voting, strip financial details from ballots, and freeze Colorado’s congressional district boundaries during a period of increased national activity in redistricting.