CO SB155

Prohibits election officials from fulfilling Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests for public inspection of ballots or ballot images from 45 days before election day through the date the official certifies the official abstract of votes cast.

Allows interested parties (candidates, political parties, petition representatives, governing bodies, or issue committee agents) to inspect and request copies of ballots during recounts without court orders and permits witnesses to observe recounts to verify fair and accurate counting, but prohibits handling original ballots.

Requires election officials to cover or redact any markings that could identify individual voters before ballots are made available for public inspection outside the stay period.

Prohibits public inspection of ballots cast by voters in groups susceptible to identification (military and overseas electors) unless duplicated without identifying information, and restricts inspection of identical ballots where only 9 or fewer exist among all ballots used in the same election.

Allows election officials to charge requesters actual costs for making ballots available for inspection and permits presenting ballots in random order to protect voter privacy.