DENVER  Colorado’s crash course in how to hold an election has begun.

With less than year before the November balloting, and the current system mostly in shambles after testing by the secretary of state last month found problems in voting machines across the state, the legislature is braced for a fight over what to do next. County clerks, who administer the elections, are counting the days, and the dwindling options.

Joe Richey, a researcher from Boulder, spoke for many in trying to sum up the difficult mix of political calculus, logistics and psychology that lies ahead.

“How are we going to pull this off?” Mr. Richey asked Tuesday at a public hearing on the question at the Capitol.

Leaders in the Democratic Party, which controls the legislature, said a popular option, supported by the county clerks, was to become the second state, after Oregon, to have all mail-in voting, at least for this year.