Voted For A Candidate Who Dropped Out? Don't Even Think Of Trying To Vote Again

DENVER (CBS4) - With several contenders for the Democratic nomination for president leaving the field, Colorado's Secretary of State is urging people to not try and vote again in the primary, or else they'll face legal penalties.

"If they already voted and actually submitted they cannot go vote again, that is illegal," said Secretary of State Jena Griswold. "We've been in contact with the county clerks and they do say they're receiving a lot of calls also from Coloradans who just don't know what the law is. You can't vote two times which of course (the clerks) know but we also reminded them that it's Colorado law that if there is double voting county clerks need to refer those cases to prosecutors."

If you submitted your primary ballot early and voted for Pete Buttigieg, Tom Steyer, Amy Klobuchar or another candidate who has dropped out like Sen. Michael Bennet, your vote is cast. In Bennet's case, his team filed paperwork to void his final tally. (More voting and poll information can be found at www.govotecolorado.com.)

People who haven't submitted their ballot have options. You can cross out a candidate and fill in another oval and hand in your ballot, or you can go vote in person at a polling location.

While rules are in place, the secretary who oversees statewide voting doesn't expect this to be a problem with the other two elections in the state later this year.

"I do think the dynamic of this race is different than other races we're going to see during the statewide primary," said Griswold.

Still, some advocates say Colorado's voting model could be improved with rank choice voting, a different system that would have allowed voters to have their voices heard, even if their first choice candidate withdraws.

Griswold says her office has started to host meetings on rank choice voting, but any final decision will be made by the legislature or voters.

"Whether this is a path forward? It's definitely a conversation we should be having," Griswold said about rank choice voting.