Elections Fellowship Opportunities
Disability access compliance
Fellows will assist the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance team within the Elections Division to ensure polling place accessibility for voters with disabilities.
Tasks include:
- Participating in meetings of the Secretary’s Voter Accessibility, Independence, and Privacy Task Force.
- Reviewing county ADA surveys to ensure compliance with all accessibility requirements.
- Auditing county ADA survey filings to ensure all required filings are timely and complete.
- Reviewing county ADA grant applications, drafting and presenting recommendations to the Task Force and the Secretary.
- Conducting county site surveys to ensure physical accessibility of county offices and polling locations.
Eligibility requirements:
- At least a sophomore in college.
- Familiarity with Microsoft office is required.
Candidate and initiative filings (ballot access)
Fellows will assist with candidate ballot access and citizen initiative processes within the Elections Division.
Tasks include:
- Responding to questions from candidates and ballot initiative proponents.
- Coordinating Title Board meetings where the language of citizen-initiated ballot questions is set.
- Developing forms used by candidates to obtain ballot access.
- Developing and reviewing training and other candidate and ballot initiative materials.
- Researching state and federal laws to assist in the policymaking process.
- Drafting memoranda, correspondence and other documents related to ballot access.
Eligibility requirements:
- At least a sophomore in college, majoring in political science.
- We will consider individuals in any degree program who have an interest in ballot access.
- Familiarity with Microsoft Office is required.
Campaign finance
Fellows will assist the campaign and political finance team within the Elections Division.
Tasks:
- Participating in meetings of the Secretary’s campaign finance advisory board comprised of elections and campaign finance attorneys.
- Participating in weekly internal campaign finance policy meetings.
- Drafting potential campaign finance rules.
- Developing and presenting training and other materials to educate committees and candidates about campaign finance disclosure requirements.
- Researching state and federal law to draft memorandum and policy documents.
Eligibility requirements:
- Must have completed at least first year of law school.
- Familiarity with Microsoft Office is required.
Election official certification training
Fellows will assist with developing election official certification training for Colorado county clerks and their staff.
Tasks include:
- Developing training materials and presenting election official certification training.
- Reviewing certification applications and issuing certificates of completion.
- Participating in meetings of the certification training board comprised of county clerk and recorders.
Eligibility requirements:
- At least a sophomore in college, majoring in political science or education.
- We will also consider individuals in any degree program who have an interest in election certification training.
- Familiarity with Microsoft Office is required.
Election complaints
Fellows will assist with investigating and resolving election law complaints under state law and the Help America Vote Act.
Tasks include:
- Investigating complaints under state and federal law, including conducting site visits and interviews.
- Drafting complaint resolutions to address alleged violations of the election code.
- Conducting resolution follow-up, including election monitoring, site visits, and training.
Eligibility requirements:
- Must have completed at least first year of law school.
- Familiarity with Microsoft Office is required
Legal analyst
Fellows will assist the legal and policy team within the Elections Division.
Tasks include:
- Assisting with the administrative rulemaking process, including researching and drafting proposed rules, coordinating rules hearings and internal follow-up meetings, and ensuring compliance with the state Administrative Procedures Act.
- Researching state and federal law to develop comprehensive policy recommendations and draft memorandum, white papers, and other documents.
- Performing process mapping and analysis to document existing processes, identify and implement process efficiencies, and support legislative initiatives.
- Monitoring relevant state and federal laws, and current events to identify, outline, and recommend best practices in elections administration, and participate in best practices working groups with county election officials.
- Participating in internal elections policy meetings.
- Collecting and reviewing documents for open records requests and lawsuit discovery.
- Drafting memorandum, correspondence, and other legal documents.
Eligibility requirements:
- Must have completed at least first year of law school.
- Familiarity with Microsoft Office is required.
Compensation:
- $18.00 per hour, maximum 25 hours a week.
Legislation
Fellows will assist with monitoring and reviewing legislation within the Elections Division.
Tasks include:
- Researching internal legislative initiatives.
- Conducting data and policy analysis to draft memorandum and white papers to support policy positions.
- Preparing for and attending committee hearings.
- Participating in legislative stakeholder meetings.
- Performing process mapping and analysis.
Eligibility requirements:
- Must have completed at least first year of law school.
- Familiarity with Microsoft Office is required.
National Voter Registration Act compliance
Fellows will assist with voter registration compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
Tasks include:
- Monitoring agency compliance with the registration requirements of the National Voter Registration Act.
- Conducting data analysis and drafting the annual report on agency registration compliance.
- Working with public assistance agencies to ensure compliance with the act, provide training, and identify process improvement.
- Monitoring relevant state and federal laws, litigation, and publications as it pertains to NVRA and drafting memorandum, correspondence, and other documents.
Eligibility requirements:
- At least a sophomore in college.
- Familiarity with Microsoft Office is required.
Voter registration database
Fellows will review voter registration information contained within the statewide voter registration database (SCORE) and assist the SCORE team with projects relating to data presentation and training.
Tasks include:
- Conducting comprehensive data analysis to respond to federal surveys and data requests, identify trends, and identify county training needs.
- Developing visually appealing graphics to illustrate registration activity and trends, and support policy and legislative initiatives.
- Performing process mapping and analysis to document existing processes, identify and implement process efficiencies, and support legislative initiatives.
- Attending SCORE advisory board meetings
- Developing and presenting functional training materials for county election officials on the use of SCORE.
Eligibility requirements:
- At least a sophomore in college.
- Statistics/quantitative data analysis background preferred.