Colorado runs a name based criminal history check that any member of the public can buy one search at a time, a prison lookup that shows photos and accepts a date of birth with a six month window, a court docket search by party name, and a voter registration lookup that needs only a name and birthday. Vital records are split between the state and the counties, and the Open Records Act reaches most writings a government office keeps.
The order to run: the docket search for scheduled court matters by party, the CDOC offender search for custody, the CBI registry for status, Find My Voter Registration to confirm a name and birthday, the business database and the DORA lookup for companies and licenses, then the county clerk and recorder for marriages and property and the CBI name check when the criminal history itself is the question.
- Courts: the Judicial Branch Docket Search, by individual or business party, attorney, location, court type and date.
- In custody: the CDOC Offender Search, by DOC number, name or date of birth, with photos.
- Criminal history, by name: the CBI Internet Criminal History Check, a one time search without an account.
- Registered offenders, licenses and companies: the CBI Sex Offender Registry, the DORA license lookup and the Business Database Search.
- Voters, certificates and money: Find My Voter Registration, vital records at CDPHE and the Great Colorado Payback.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Colorado's own systems: the Colorado Judicial Branch, the Department of Corrections, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the Secretary of State's business, voter and CORA pages, the Department of Public Health and Environment, the Address Confidentiality Program, each read on October 13, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The docket search, by party name
The Colorado Judicial Branch's Docket Search finds a list of dockets from any of its fields: location by judicial district, county and courthouse, court type and division, a date or date range, a case number built from a four digit year, case class and sequence, a party searched as an individual by first and last name or as a business by name, or an attorney by name or bar number. At least one filter in addition to the date is required. The result is a list of dockets, meaning the matters set before the court, and the party fields are the people search entry point: a first and last name returns the dockets on which that person is a party. When read on October 13, 2026 the page carried two notices from the courts, a temporary pause in the requirement to livestream criminal proceedings in place until December 14, 2026 and a midday closure of the Logan County Combined Courts on October 16, which is the kind of operational note the page keeps at the top.
The CDOC offender search
The Colorado Department of Corrections' Offender Search takes one or more of a DOC number, a last name, a first name and a date of birth, with a checkbox to search plus or minus six months around the birth date, and it can filter by race, gender, counties, current offenses and facilities. A checkbox shows photos on the result page, and the same site offers a Parole Board search, search tips and a disclaimer. The department's open records contact is doc_open_records@state.co.us. The birth date window is the useful trick: a name with an approximate age finds the right person without the exact date.
The CBI registry and the CBI name check
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation's Sex Offender Registry site offers search information, an explanation of the sexually violent predator designation and the community notification process, and links to local law enforcement; the page delivered its menu and no description of the search, so its terms are on the site.
The bureau's Internet Criminal History Check System, ICHC, runs official Colorado name based record searches. A one time search can be run without creating an account, one person at a time, entering the information at each visit, which the bureau describes as best for occasional searches; businesses, agencies and frequent users create an account for individual or batch requests, past searches, payments and reports, multiple users and a prepaid account or credit card. The page SearchSystems read did not state the fee, so the price is on the site. A name based result is a match on name and identifiers, not a fingerprint match.
The license lookup, the Business Database Search and Find My Voter Registration
The Division of Professions and Occupations at DORA runs a license lookup; the page gave SearchSystems its title and no text, so the search is described on the page. The Secretary of State's Business Database Search searches by business name, trademark, trade name, ID or document number, with a name availability search, an advanced search, a business survey information search and a trademark advanced search alongside; when read it stated that paper documents were processed through 10/08/2026. The office calls itself a filing registry that lacks the authority to certify whether a business is operating legally, and it answers in its FAQs what good standing means and that its records do not say whether a business is reputable.
The Secretary of State's Find My Voter Registration takes a first name, a last name and a birthday, entered as they appear on the registration record, with a single name going in the last name field. The page says a record may not be found if the registration is confidential or the voter is under 18, suggests the ZIP code of the last home address after a move, and sends anyone who cannot find a record to the County Clerk and Recorder.
Vital records: the state for certificates, the counties for the rest
The Department of Public Health and Environment's vital records page handles birth and death certificates, corrections, adoption information, the Colorado Voluntary Adoption Registry and lost or stolen certificates. Online orders go through GoCertificates for birth and death requests or through VitalChek, with a surcharge for card payments, and the department says normal processing for online orders is thirty business days from receipt, with current times posted on its ordering page. For records beyond birth and death the page sends searchers elsewhere: county vital records offices also issue birth and death records, county clerk and recorder's offices hold marriage records, district court clerks hold divorce, separation and annulment records, and the Colorado State Archives holds a wide range of historical data.
The Great Colorado Payback and the Address Confidentiality Program
Colorado's unclaimed property search is the Great Colorado Payback, which answered SearchSystems with its title only. The Address Confidentiality Program, run by the Department of Personnel and Administration's Division of Central Services, gives protected healthcare workers and survivors of stalking, harassment, sexual assault, human trafficking and domestic violence a legal substitute address with mail forwarding, which every state and local agency must accept under Colorado law. The program has served over 16,600 victim survivors since July 2008, accepts service of process for participants from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekdays, and answers at 303-866-2208, 1-888-341-0002 and acp@state.co.us from a secure state facility with no public access. A participant's real address is, by design, absent from the records on this page.
The Colorado Open Records Act
The Secretary of State's CORA page explains that the Colorado Open Records Act requires most public records to be available to the public, that a public record includes most writings made, maintained or kept by an office, and that anyone can request public records in a government office's possession, subject to exceptions. Requests must go to the custodian of the records at the agency that holds them; the Secretary of State does not process requests for other agencies and has no authority to decide whether another agency improperly denied one. For its own records the office takes a detailed written request by mail at CORA Custodian, 1700 Broadway, Suite 550, Denver, CO 80290, or by email at CORA@coloradoSOS.gov, with the requester's name, mailing address, contact details and a specific description of the records, search terms and date range. Electronic records are generally emailed and paper records mailed, with charges paid in advance under the fee schedule. The office notes that it is a filing office for business entity records, UCC and EFS filings, charitable solicitations, bingo raffle, notary, lobbyist, campaign finance and candidate filings, many already online without a request.
Colorado: docket search, CBI check, county deeds
Colorado's free lookups do the identification: the docket search ties a name to court matters and a courthouse, the CDOC search ties a name and approximate birth date to a photo and a facility, Find My Voter Registration confirms that a name and birthday belong to a registered voter, and the business database and DORA lookup show companies and licenses. The CBI name check is the paid step, and the counties hold the rest: marriage records at the clerk and recorder, divorces at the district court, deeds and parcels at the clerk and recorder and the assessor, listed on the Colorado county pages at SearchSystems.
Commercial people search sites sell Colorado reports built from these sources and from the CBI check resold at a markup. The docket search, the offender search and the registry are free, and the CBI sells the name check directly.
County Starting Points
Questions about finding someone in Colorado
Every Colorado Guide
The full set: arrest records, background checks, inmate search, offender registry, birth certificates, unclaimed property, business search, and the Colorado records law that opens every door on this list.