CO HB1081

Secretary of state must establish a multilingual ballot hotline providing access to qualified translators in languages offered by the most recent decennial census, beginning November 2022 and continuing for all general and odd-year statewide elections thereafter.

County clerks in counties with at least 2,000 citizens age 18+ who speak English less than very well and speak a shared minority language at home (or at least 2.5% of such population) must create minority language sample ballots starting November 2020 and provide in-person minority language ballots starting November 2022.

Secretary of state must determine which counties meet the criteria, notify affected county clerks by July 1, 2020 and January 5 of each even year thereafter, and provide translations of all ballot content to county clerks for use in creating multilingual ballots.

Qualified translators must be screened and tested for proficiency in written English and target language with national association affiliation or comparable credentials, and must provide linguistically accurate and culturally appropriate translations only of ballot language.

Appropriates $72,112 to the department of state for fiscal year 2020-21, with $71,680 for information technology personal services and $432 for elections division operating expenses.