In preparing for its 2019 municipal election, the City and County of Denver needed to identify a solution to the unique obstacles faced by overseas citizens and active-duty military personnel and their families. Those obstacles range from poor mail delivery to lack of access to regular mail. Because of these unique challenges, state and federal laws, including the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), grant special voting privileges to these voters, including an electronic method of voting.

Denver had been offering a web-based platform through which qualified voters can access and mark their ballot over several election cycles. Because UOCAVA voters are required to sign an affidavit with their voted ballot, they needed to print, sign, and then scan the affidavit in order to return their ballot electronically. Since most voters in these circumstances are unlikely to have access to a printer and scanner, these requirements presented additional hurdles, impeding their ability to vote.

Assuming voters were able to successfully print, sign, and scan their affidavits, they then needed to securely transmit their voted ballot and signed affidavit back to the Denver Elections office. Because Denver does not have access to the secure file transfer site used by the Colorado Secretary of State for municipal elections, email became the only electronic method of return. UOCAVA voters were forced to email PDF attachments containing their voted ballot and signed affidavit. This is one of the most insecure return methods available and offered voters and Denver Elections no assurance that the email was not tampered with and that the ballot was received as marked.

In short, before 2019 Denver UOCAVA voters had very limited options when it came to voting – all of which were highly insecure and inconvenient.