2 weeks Ago
More than half of the active voters in El Paso County returned their ballots by the end of Sunday. The Secretary of State’s Office reported the county had received 251,180 ballots as of Sunday, the most of any county in Colorado. El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker continues to project that the county would eventually approach 90% voter turnout, which would mean roughly 180,000 more voters returning their ballots by the close of polls Tuesday night.
"We’re going to see some significant lines, you know, traffic lines at the ballot boxes and lines at our (Voter Service and Polling Centers),” Schleiker said Monday. Schleiker did not expect the burst of snow that began Sunday night and continued into Monday to have a major impact on the county’s turnout or the timeline for receiving votes. "I'm hoping it holds off until the polls close and it looks like it will,” he said.
An election judge collects a ballot from a voter outside Centennial Hall Monday afternoon, Nov. 4, 2024, in downtown Colorado Springs. Voters have until 7 p.
m. Tuesday to cast their ballots. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) More than 1,000 people are working to oversee a smooth and secure election in the county.
The support team included more than 800 temporary election judges and county staff relocated from the Motor Vehicle Department to help run voter centers Monday and Tuesday. Schleiker said the department had also pulled in security help from police departments and the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management. "We want people to have a positive experience when they come and vote,” Schleiker said.
The county Clerk and Recorder’s Office must receive all ballots by 7 p.m. Tuesday for their votes to be counted.
Mail-in ballots that are postmarked before that deadline will not be counted unless they arrive by 7 p.m. Voters need to sign the affidavit on their ballot envelope before dropping it off or else the vote won’t be counted.
El Paso County has 38 Voter Service and Polling Center locations open Monday and Tuesday. The centers are where people can register to vote and update voter information, request a replacement ballot, and vote in-person. The centers are able to register people to vote right up until Tuesday night’s deadline.
Ballots can also be dropped off in 41 ballot drop boxes across the county. The drop boxes will be regularly emptied by election judges and returned to the Elections office. An El Paso County voting staff member speaks with a voter outside the Pikes Peak Library District's East branch on Monday, November 4, 2024.
The first set of unofficial results will not be released until after every voter in line at a Voter Service and Polling Center site has cast their ballot Tuesday night. The Clerk and Recorder's Office estimated that could take until 8 p.m.
because of a potential high showing of in-person voters Tuesday. Earlier turnout and votes cast in ballot boxes before Election Day will speed up the reporting of the initial election results. Need last-minute information about the issues and candidates around El Paso County and the state? See our complete guide to Colorado's 2024 ballot for voters in El Paso and Teller counties.
Do you need a driver's license to vote? You can vote in Colorado as long as you have some form of official identification, such as a passport or even a utility bill. Here are nine other things to know about who can and who can't vote in Colorado..
