COLORADO — Nearly every one of Colorado's 64 counties elects a coroner and the requirements are minimal: be at least 18 years old, not a felon, and registered to vote in the county you run in.
There's a push to change those requirements in more populous counties in the state.
"We haven't evolved really in any meaningful way in the last 100-plus years, in that anyone can run for that position," said Dr. Leon Kelly, El Paso County Coroner, "there are essentially no meaningful qualifications for the individual who can run to become the coroner, regardless of whether this is a town or a county of 5,000 people or a major metropolitan area that's approaching a million people."
Dr. Kelly is no stranger to facing political challengers for his job. He faced opponents in both 2018 and 2022 election cycles.
"I think both of the last two elections, the individuals who ran for coroner didn't know what the coroner did and had really no understanding of what the roles and responsibilities of the job were," Kelly said.
He will not seek a third term in 2026, but he wants to ensure the person who replaces him has some education requirements.
For the past 60 years, El Paso County has had a forensic pathologist at the head of its coroner's office. However, if voters had selected one of Kelly's opponents it could've been a different situation.
"If we're going to give this person this very difficult job of investigating mass shootings and mass fatalities and these huge events, officer-involved shootings and things that are critical to the well-being of our community, that person should have to have the qualifications to do that job," Kelly said.
El Paso County has five medical examiners working in the coroner's office and the county performs autopsies for more than 20 other counties, more than a third of the state. There's a financial benefit to El Paso County having medical examiners as other counties pay $1,500 per autopsy.
"As someone who's lived through this now two elections in a row and can see the writing on the wall and what this could do to this office, to our citizens, and to our community, it's time to change it," Kelly said.
Representative Stephanie Vigil (Colorado Springs-D) is looking into putting some protections in place for larger counties, like El Paso, in the state.
"There's nothing we can change in statute that's going to say like allow a county to appoint a coroner and just pick the best-qualified professional," Vigil said, she explained because it's a constitutional office it would still need to be elected.
Home-rule counties like Denver and Pitkin counties appoint a coroner.
However, Vigil said lawmakers could put some requirements on people looking to run for coroner. Right now Vigil is in the process of speaking with stakeholders to draft a bill to add requirements for candidates in counties with a population of more than 250,000.
"We're essentially operating as if we are a regional medical examiner, which is how a lot of other states do it when they don't elect county coroner. So we're operating that way, but the way that we elect people doesn't necessarily guarantee that we're going to get a qualified individual in that position." Vigil said.
The qualifications would include requiring candidates to be either a forensic pathologist or a certified death investigator through ABMDI (American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators).
"If you can do those two things, then yes, you're qualified to have this job. If you haven't put in the energy or the effort or the time or the passion to get either one of those two things, you haven't even qualified for the entry-level job. Why would you be qualified to lead one of the largest offices in the state, or potentially the largest office in the state?" Kelly said.
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