Voters can ‘cure’ their ballot by texting the Secretary of State’s Office

DENVER (KDVR) — Every election, there are some ballots with missing signatures, signature discrepancies and identification deficiencies — but there’s also an easy way for most of those ballots to be “cured.”

At least there is in Colorado: Voters with issues on their June 25 ballot have until July 3 to fix those issues, or “cure” their ballots. They can implement that fix with ‘Txt2Cure,” a tool the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office offers any Colorado voter with a mobile phone.

“Txt2Cure enables Coloradans to easily fix a ballot issue like a rejected signature or missing ID, and is especially helpful for younger voters who have fewer signatures on file,” said Secretary of State Jena Griswold in a release.

But what is an uncured ballot? According to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, it’s simply any ballot that has been rejected because the signature on the envelope was missing or didn’t match the signature on file with the Clerk and Recorder’s Office, or that the voter (who was required to) did not include a photocopy of an acceptable form of ID. Not all voters are required to include a photocopy of their ID.

County clerks will contact voters with a signature deficiency or ID deficiency with information on how to fix it at their local county clerk’s office, or by using Txt2Cure. Voters who enrolled in BallotTrax will also be notified by message, email or a phone call.

To use Txt2Cure, voters will text the word “Colorado” to “2Vote,” or 28683, and follow the link provided in a reply. Voters using the tool will need their voter ID number and an acceptable form of ID. If you already know your ballot will need to be cured, you can use your voter ID number to log in to Colorado’s online voter registration system, GoVoteColorado.gov.

Individuals who did not submit a ballot but are told their ballot was rejected can log on to the Txt2Cure website, 2vote.mobi, and check the box to say they did not return a voted ballot.

The program was launched statewide in 2020 and has since been used by more than 32,000 voters to ensure their vote is counted.

July 3 is the last day for voters to cure their Primary Election ballots. It is also the last day that county clerks can receive military and overseas ballots. County audit boards must report the results of the bipartisan Risk Limiting Audit to the Secretary of State’s Office on July 16, and the Secretary of State can certify the primary election as early as July 22.