“Gold-Standard” or “Rigged”? How Secure Colorado’s Mail-In Elections Really Are
Shawn GriffithsThe White House touted a big announcement Tuesday, only for it to be reported early that President Donald Trump plans to re-locate U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Alabama – which is not as big of deal as the reason for the decision.
The U.S. Space Command was temporarily headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a decision made by former President Joe Biden. Trump’s announcement Tuesday was long expected, ending a vigorous 4-year campaign by Colorado and Alabama to claim Space Command.
However, the president implied that his decision to go with Alabama was not just about preference – but punishment for Colorado’s use of universal mail-in voting. “The problem I have with Colorado… they do mail-in voting,” Trump said, claiming that the state automatically has "crooked" and "dishonest" elections as a result.
Colorado election officials have pushed back on Trump's repeated claims that vote-by-mail systems are "corrupt."
“Colorado’s elections are safe and secure. We have the gold standard,” said Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, adding that the state conducts risk-limiting audits and has robust ballot tracking and curing. As secretary of state, Griswold is the state’s chief elections officer.
Denver Clerk & Recorder Paul López further said Colorado’s model “prioritizes access and security,” and noted the greatest threat is low participation, not the state’s voting method.
What “Universal Mail-In” Means in Colorado
Colorado has used its current election model since 2013, following the state legislature’s passage of the Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act. Under the law, every registered voter receives a mail-in ballot and that is how they vote in most elections.
The law also retains staffed vote centers for in-person options, enables same-day registration, and shortens residency requirements – thus giving Coloradans more options when they cast their ballots each election cycle.
Colorado was the third state in the U.S. to adopt vote-by-mail for all elections – which is also known as “universal mail-in” voting.
Pew Charitable Trust conducted an early examination of the law’s impact. Its research showed that costs for elections dropped considerably, the use of provisional ballots (which are used when a person’s voter status is in question) dropped 98%, and two-thirds of voters returned their ballot in-person.
Has It Helped Participation and Confidence?
First, turnout: According to Ballotpedia, Colorado’s voting-eligible population (VEP) turnout was 73.1% in 2024, which is higher than the 64.1% national average. Colorado routinely ranks among the highest-turnout states in both presidential and midterm cycles.
There was also a notable rise in turnout after the passage of the Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act compared to the elections prior, particularly in midterm cycles. For example, the VEP average turnout in the 3 presidential elections before 2014 was 69.8%.
This average increased to 74.2% under vote-by-mail.
Midterm election years saw a substantial increase in average turnout. Prior to 2014, the VEP average turnout was 48.8% in the midterms, a number that has increased nearly a full 10 percentage points to 58.1% under vote-by-mail.
Now, voter experience: The early evaluation from Pew Charitable Trust found that 95% of mail voters were satisfied with the election model.
More recently, ahead of the 2024 election, the University of Colorado Boulder found that 72% of voters expressed confidence that state elections would be conducted fairly and accurately, including 61% of independents surveyed.
In March 2025, the Colorado Polling Institute asked voters how much they trust “the people who administer elections and count ballots in Colorado.” The nonpartisan group found 58% total trust and 25% total distrust, which is up slightly from 55%/27% in November 2023.
AP has also noted that, with mail ballots and vote centers, Colorado typically reports results quickly. Historically, about 86% of votes are reported by midnight ET on election night.
What About Fraud?
President Trump claims there is rampant fraud under vote-by-mail systems, including in Colorado. However, evidence shows even attempts at fraud is rare – and caught as a result of election security measures in place.
In 2024, Colorado authorities investigated at least 12 intercepted mail ballots in Mesa County, problems that were flagged as a result of signature verification and voter notifications. Only 3 slipped through processing and could not be removed.
Colorado, like all states using secret ballots, separates ballots from envelopes after verification. Officials emphasized that the system worked as designed to limit impact and trigger a criminal probe.
“This attempt at fraud was found and investigated quickly because of all the trailblazing processes and tools Colorado has in place like signature verification, ballot tracking, and the curing process,” Griswold said.
One person was convicted and sentenced in connection with the scheme.
Large-scale reviews and litigation in recent years have turned up no evidence of widespread fraud in Colorado’s elections, even as the state has had to harden defenses against threats and misinformation.
6 Independent Mechanisms Used to Secure Mail-In Voting in Colorado
Colorado layers multiple, publicly documented protections that election-security researchers commonly recommend:
1. Paper ballots + Risk-Limiting Audits (RLA):
Colorado was the first in the nation to run a statewide RLA (2017), a statistically grounded check that confirms machine counts and will escalate to a full hand count if discrepancies approach the chosen risk limit.
RLAs are widely regarded as a “gold standard” to ensure secure and accurate elections.
2. Signature verification by bipartisan judges:
Every return envelope is checked against signatures on file by teams from different parties; questionable envelopes are held out and the voter is contacted to cure.
Additionally, first-time mail voters may need to include a copy of an acceptable form of ID in the return envelope—another identity check layered atop signature verification.
3. Track-and-notify systems (BallotTrax & TXT2Cure):
Real-time tracking plus rapid curing reduces erroneous rejections and helps voters spot any problem quickly. It’s one reason the Mesa County issue came to light.
4. Drop-box controls & chain of custody:
5. Pre-election logic & accuracy tests; post-election audits:
Machines are publicly tested before every election. After tabulation, RLAs provide high confidence in outcomes. (Colorado pioneered the statewide model in 2017.)
6. Insider-threat safeguards:
The Colorado Election Security Act (SB22-153) tightened access controls to equipment and data and criminalized certain insider abuses after well-publicized breaches elsewhere.
State officials have reiterated—even amid an unrelated 2024 password-exposure error—that multiple, independent layers (dual-key access, paper ballots, audits) protect outcomes and that the 2024 general election was secure and accurate.
A Secure, Transparent, and Proven System
The absence of fraud does not mean that some voters will not have concerns over how their ballots are handled under a vote-by-mail system. After all, there will always be malicious actors who try to exploit the system.
But while Trump claims Colorado uses a voting system compromised by rampant fraud – the evidence suggests otherwise. Research shows that not only are state elections secure, they provide a blueprint for other states that want to expand vote-by-mail.
Polling data shows that voters trust it. They continue to use it in high numbers. There are rare attempts at fraud and even when fraud is attempted, those efforts are quickly detected thanks to a well-audited, paper-ballot system with transparent, bipartisan checks, tracking, cures, and first-in-the-nation risk-limiting audits.
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