Location and Removal of County Seats

C.R.S. tit. 30, art. 8
in effect

C.R.S. § 30-8-101 County seat - removal - election

30-8-101. County seat - removal - election. When an election is ordered by the board of county commissioners of any county on the question of removal or location of the county seat, it is the duty of such board of county commissioners to appoint special judges and registers of such elections, and to provide a special ballot box in each voting precinct in which shall be deposited all the ballots cast at such election in such precinct on the question of location or removal of the county seat.

C.R.S. § 30-8-102 Special registration

30-8-102. Special registration. It is the duty of the judges and registers so appointed to make a special registration of the voters of each precinct who have resided in the county at least six months, and in such precinct at least ninety days, prior to the day designated for holding such election, which day shall be the day designated by law for holding a general election, and no other.

C.R.S. § 30-8-103 Polling places - special ballot

30-8-103. Polling places - special ballot. The election shall be held at the same places at which the general election is ordered to be held, but the vote for or against removal or location of the county seat shall be by a special ballot, separate and distinct from the general ticket voted at said election, which ballot shall be deposited in the special ballot box provided for in section 30-8-101, and no vote shall be counted for or against said removal or location which is not deposited in such special ballot box.

C.R.S. § 30-8-104 Removal - when

30-8-104. Removal - when. No county seat shall be removed until the expiration of thirty days after the canvass of the votes by the county canvassers upon the question of location or removal, nor until the board of county commissioners of such county has made and entered of record on its journal an order directing such removal. The board shall make such order within thirty days after the county canvass is completed, unless enjoined or restrained from so doing by an order of the district court of said county or by the supreme court.

C.R.S. § 30-8-105 Elections - laws applicable

30-8-105. Elections - laws applicable. All laws now in force relating to elections shall apply to elections held upon the question of removal or location of county seats, except that the question of location of such county seats shall be contested in the district court of said county in the first instance, but may be removed to the district court of any other county under the provisions of the Colorado rules of civil procedure relating to change of the place of trial, and shall be also subject to appeal as provided by law and the Colorado appellate rules. Not less than two-thirds of all the legal votes cast shall be necessary to effect the removal of the county seat of any county in this state.

C.R.S. § 30-8-106 Election contests - laws applicable

30-8-106. Election contests - laws applicable. All laws governing contests of elections shall be applicable to contests of county seat elections; except that the board of county commissioners of the county shall in all cases be the contestee, and that the contest shall be conducted in the district court of the proper county. Such district court may appoint a magistrate to take testimony in relation to the grounds of contest alleged by the contestor, which magistrate may sit to take evidence in any precinct of his county.

C.R.S. § 30-8-107 County seats - removal - petition - election

30-8-107. County seats - removal - petition - election. (1) When the taxpaying electors of any county in this state are desirous of changing the county seat of the county in which they reside from the place where such county seat has been permanently located, they may at any time present to the board of county commissioners of such county a petition signed by a majority of such taxpaying electors whose names shall appear on the last tax roll. No names shall be withdrawn from said petition after the same has been presented to the board of county commissioners, except in cases of actual fraud in the procuring of signatures to the same. (2) Thereupon it is the duty of the board to require the county clerk and recorder, in giving notice for the next general election, to notify the registered voters of said county to designate upon their ballots at such election the place of their choice; and, if upon canvassing the votes polled or given it appears that any one place has two-thirds of all legal votes polled or given, such place shall be the county seat, and notice of any change thereby made shall be given as provided by law. Where there are no county buildings and the petition so states, it shall not be necessary for such majority to be more than a mere majority of all the legal votes cast to effect such removal. (3) The term "taxpaying electors" as used in this section means only those persons who are qualified voters under the registration and election laws of this state, and who in the calendar year last preceding the year in which such petition is presented as aforesaid have paid a tax, or are liable for the payment of such tax, on real or personal property assessed to them and owned by them in the county in which such petition is presented.

C.R.S. § 30-8-108 Commissioners' surveys - county buildings

30-8-108. Commissioners' surveys - county buildings. The board of county commissioners has the power to make all needful arrangements for having such county seat surveyed into lots, squares, streets, and alleys, selling and disposing of the same, and erecting a jailhouse, courthouse, or other county buildings as to the board seems best.

C.R.S. § 30-8-109 Attached territory - tax liability

30-8-109. Attached territory - tax liability. No tax shall be levied against the people of any county to erect any public building in another county, in the same judicial district.
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-30.docxFetched: 10/6/2026