On Monday, April 14th, the House State, Civic, Military, & Veterans Affairs committee will be hearing SB25-001, the Colorado Voting Rights Act (or “COVRA”). The bill, which already came out of the Colorado Senate, will protect Coloradans’ voting rights and help us build a more just democracy. Interfaith supports COVRA because it protects the access Colorado voters have today from ongoing attempts to undermine our election system and our voting rights.
COVRA will:
- Protect and improve voting rights and access for Coloradans, regardless of physical ability, gender identity, native language, or whether they live on tribal lands within Colorado
- Provide a pathway for challenging unfair election rules and practices that result in disparities in voter participation
- Allow the Attorney General to enforce voting rights under COVRA
- Support communities of color in challenging unfair district maps and other practices that dilute their voting power
- Improve our ability to monitor voter access and participation among communities across our state
As a faith based organization, we understand that without democracy there can be no religious freedom for any of us. Religious freedom and democracy are interconnected, one cannot truly exist without the other. Our right to participate in the democratic process, including through voting, is foundational to a flourishing democracy. The history of the United States and of Colorado reflects the promise of securing political equality through voting, along with, unfortunately, efforts to undermine it. Like many states, the history of voting rights in Colorado is complicated.
Early Disenfranchisement and Expansion of Rights
In 1893, Colorado became the first state to grant women the right to vote through a popular referendum, ahead of the federal ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920 (MSU Denver RED, 2020). However, Indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups continued to face legal and structural barriers to voting. The 1924 Indian Citizenship Act granted Native Americans U.S. citizenship, but Colorado, like other states, delayed full voting rights through mechanisms such as literacy tests and poll taxes (Colorado Encyclopedia, 2022).
Felony Disenfranchisement and Recent Reforms
For many years, individuals convicted of felonies faced disenfranchisement in Colorado, particularly those on parole. The passage of House Bill 19-1266 in 2019 restored voting rights to parolees, allowing thousands of Coloradans reentering society to participate in elections (Colorado General Assembly, 2019).
TABOR and Voter Engagement
The 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) introduced a system requiring voter approval for tax increases while imposing strict revenue limits on the state government (Bell Policy Center, 2007). While designed to give residents a direct say in tax decisions, some argue that TABOR’s complexity discourages voter participation by making fiscal policy challenging to navigate. Others suggest that frequent ballot measures on tax issues contribute to voter fatigue, disproportionately affecting lower-income communities (Axios, 2024).
Religious freedom and democracy are interconnected, one cannot truly exist without the other.
Colorado’s history reflects an ongoing struggle to expand voter access and address structural barriers that shape political participation. Work remains to be done, particularly against a backdrop of federal action that promises to restrict and discourage voter participation. COVRA is an important forward step in the history of voting rights in Colorado we can take together.
Thank you for being our partner in protecting democracy and religious freedom. To let your representative know that you support SB25-001, you can look up your representative and their contact information using “Find My Legislator.”