CO Code § 1-2-102 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 1 - Elections|Article 2 - Qualifications and Registration of Electors|Part 1 - Qualifications of Electors|§ 1-2-102. Rules for Determining Residence

  The following rules shall be used to determine the residence of a person intending to register or to vote in any precinct in this state and shall be used by election judges in challenge procedures:     The residence of a person is the principal or primary home or place of abode of a person. A principal or primary home or place of abode is that home or place in which a person's habitation is fixed and to which that person, whenever absent, has the present intention of returning after a departure or absence, regardless of the duration of the absence. A residence is a permanent building or part of a building and may include a house, condominium, apartment, room in a house, or mobile home. No vacant lot or business address shall be considered a residence. (a) (I) The residence of a person is the principal or primary home or place of abode of a person. A principal or primary home or place of abode is that home or place in which a person's habitation is fixed and to which that person, whenever absent, has the present intention of returning after a departure or absence, regardless of the duration of the absence. A residence is a permanent building or part of a building and may include a house, condominium, apartment, room in a house, or mobile home. No vacant lot or business address shall be considered a residence.    For the purpose of voter registration residence, a homeless elector shall identify a specific location within a county where the elector returns to regularly. This location may include a homeless shelter, a homeless services provider, a park, a campground, a vacant lot, a business address, or any other physical location. If the homeless elector's registration residence does not include a mailing address, the elector shall also provide a mailing address.       In determining what is the principal or primary place of abode of a person, the following circumstances relating to the person shall be taken into account: Business pursuits, employment, income sources, residence for income or other tax purposes, age, marital status, residence of parents, spouse or civil union partner, and children, if any, leaseholds, situs of personal and real property, existence of any other residences and the amount of time spent at each residence, and motor vehicle registration.    The residence given for voting purposes shall be the same as the residence given for motor vehicle registration and for state income tax purposes.    A person shall not be considered to have gained a residence in this state, or in any county or municipality in this state, while retaining a home or domicile elsewhere.    If a person moves to any other state with the intention of making it a permanent residence, that person is considered to have lost Colorado residence after twenty-two days' absence from this state unless the person has evidenced an intent to retain a residence in this state by a self-affirmation executed pursuant to section 1-7.5-107 (3)(b.5).    After a person moves from one residence to another and has made the new residence his or her sole legal place of residence, the person is considered to have residence at the residence in this state to which the person moved.         History. Source: L. 92: Entire article R&RE, p. 636, § 2, effective January 1, 1993. L. 94: (1)(e) and (1)(f) amended, p. 1752, § 5, effective January 1, 1995. L. 96: (1)(a) and (1)(e) amended, pp. 1734, 1773, §§ 8, 77, effective July 1. L. 2013: (1)(b), (1)(e), and (1)(f) amended, (HB 13-1303), ch. 185, p. 687, § 7, effective May 10. L. 2014: (1)(f) amended, (SB 14-161), ch. 160, p. 555, § 2, effective May 9. L. 2018: (1)(a)(II) amended, (SB 18-233), ch. 262, p. 1603, § 2, effective May 29.    Editor's note:   This section is similar to former § 1-2-102 as it existed prior to 1992.   Cross references:    For change of residence, see § 1-2-216; for penalty for voting by giving false information regarding place of residence, see § 1-2-228; for residency requirement for electors, see § 1-2-101 (1)(b); for emergency registration in certain cases of change of residence, see § 1-2-217.5.    In 2013, subsections (1)(b), (1)(e), and (1)(f) were amended by the “Voter Access and Modernized Elections Act”. For the short title and the legislative declaration, see sections 1 and 2 of chapter 185, Session Laws of Colorado 2013.     ANNOTATION   Analysis     I. GENERAL CONSIDERATION.    II. ESTABLISHING RESIDENCE.     I. GENERAL CONSIDERATION.   Annotator's note. The following annotations include cases decided under former provisions similar to this section.   II. ESTABLISHING RESIDENCE.   A person is not entitled to vote unless he has adopted the state as a fixed and permanent habitation. Merrill v. Shearston, 73 Colo. 230 , 214 P. 540 (1923).   And there must not only be a personal presence, but an intent to make the place his true home. Merrill v. Shearston, 73 Colo. 230 , 214 P. 540 (1923).   And a change of voting place is compelling evidence of an intention to make a change in residence. Kellner v. Dist. Court, 127 Colo. 320 , 256 P.2d 887 (1953).   But residence is not acquired by mere intention. People v. Turpin, 49 Colo. 234 , 112 P. 539 (1910).   The mere intention to return to a former abode at some more or less indefinite time, with no other indicia of a home or domicile, may not fulfill the usual requirements of legal residence for voting purposes. Gordon v. Blackburn, 618 P.2d 668 (Colo. 1980).   As the residence contemplated is synonymous with home or domicile and means actual settlement within the state. Sharp v. McIntire, 23 Colo. 99 , 46 P. 115 (1896); People v. Turpin, 49 Colo. 234 , 112 P. 539 (1910).   Hence, mere purchase of home in the state is not sufficient. The purchase by a citizen of another state of a plantation in this state with a bona fide purpose to remove to it, and make it his home as soon as possession can be acquired, but in the meantime retaining his former home, does not constitute him a resident of this state, though he afterwards, pursuing his original purpose, removes to this state and establishes himself here. People v. Turpin, 49 Colo. 234 , 112 P. 539 (1910).   For residence and capacity as an elector relate to the day of actual settlement in this state, and not to the day when the purpose was formed. People v. Turpin, 49 Colo. 234 , 112 P. 539 (1910).   Moreover, one who has a home or domicile in another state cannot by a sojourn here, however long, acquire a residence in this state, within the meaning of this section, without abandoning his former domicile. Sharp v. McIntire, 23 Colo. 99 , 46 P. 115 (1896).   Thus, to effect a change of residence from one state to another, there must be an actual removal, an actual change of domicile, and a bona fide intention of abandoning the former place of residence and establishing a new one. People v. Turpin, 49 Colo. 234 , 112 P. 539 (1910).   Test of residency after elector moves from precinct. The following inquiry is required to be undertaken if an elector has moved outside the boundaries of his voting precinct and wishes to retain his right to vote there: (1) Had the party established his principal or primary home or place of abode within the election precinct? and (2) was the individual's departure taken or does his absence continue with a present intention of returning to the precinct in the future? Gordon v. Blackburn, 618 P.2d 668 (Colo. 1980).   Intent to keep legal residency central factor. Once a person's legal residence has been established, his intent to keep it becomes the central factor in determining whether it continues. Gordon v. Blackburn, 618 P.2d 668 (Colo. 1980).   Some time limit must be set for determining who is and who is not a resident for the purpose of voting, not only to preserve the purity of the election but also for administrative reasons. Hall v. Beals, 292 F. Supp. 610 (D. Colo. 1968 ), appeal dismissed as moot, 396 U.S. 45, 90 S. Ct. 200, 24 L. Ed. 2d 214 (1969).   Temporary move for work purposes does not constitute abandonment of domicile. Where a man and his wife had acquired a domicile in a town and a short while before an election they moved to another place where the man had a contract to work with the intention of residing there till the contract was finished and during the time left their home in the town with part of their furniture in the care of another, they had not abandoned their domicile and were legally entitled to vote at an election in the town of their domicile occurring during the time of their residence at the place of the work. Jain v. Bossen, 27 Colo. 423 , 62 P. 194 (1900).   One does not lose voting rights by reason of departure or absence from primary home, once it has been established. Gordon v. Blackburn, 618 P.2d 668 (Colo. 1980).   But where a person registers in another state and makes declarations to that end, that person cannot legally vote in Colorado. Kellner v. Dist. Court, 127 Colo. 320 , 256 P.2d 887 (1953).   The factors listed in subsection (1)(b) for determining an elector's residency for voter registration purposes also control in determining a circulator's residency under § 1-4-905 (1) . Kuhn v. Williams, 2018 CO 30M, 418 P.3d 478.   The district court erred as a matter of law by relying exclusively on the stated subjective intent of a circulator for the campaign of an incumbent U.S. representative, without considering the objective indicia of his principal or primary place of abode under subsection (1)(b) to determine his residency. Because each of the objective factors delineated in subsection (1)(b) indicates that another state and not this state was the circulator's “primary or principal place of abode” as a matter of law, he was not a resident of this state during the time he served as a circulator for the campaign. Because he did not meet the statutory requirements to be a circulator, the signatures he collected must be struck from the campaign's candidate-nomination petition. Kuhn v. Williams, 2018 CO 30M, 418 P.3d 478.