Roger Baker, Gilpin County Manager.  It’s definitely fall, and while some may turn to thoughts of snowshoeing and skiing (or snow shoveling), for the Gilpin County Clerk & Recorder’s Office that means Election Day is coming!

Not that Election Day means what it used to in these days of mail ballots, but certainly that day—November 3 this year—is the culmination of a long process, which continues even beyond that Tuesday.

Mail ballots were sent to all active voters this week; if you are a Gilpin County voter and haven’t received one by this reading, don’t panic, however it might be worth calling the Clerk & Recorders Office at 330-582-5321 by Monday (Oct. 19) if you think you should have received one and didn’t.

In Gilpin County there will be four ballot measures everyone will be deciding on; voters should already have received the state “blue book” that discussed the pros and cons on the one statewide measure, Proposition BB, regarding the refund of marijuana taxes.

There are three local measures the Commissioners have referred to the ballot: 1A would remove term limits for the elected surveyor; 1B would allow Commissioners elected from this point forward to serve three terms (they are now limited to just two); and 1C would allow Gilpin County to involve itself in providing high-speed internet and other telecommunications services to County businesses and residents.

Voters in the Boulder Valley School District will have still more measures to decide: there are four director positions to vote on (only two of which are contested), and a measure that would let the District also lease its fiber network to other internet providers.

Casting the ballots should be easy: it is a mail ballot election, after all, so voters can just follow the instructions for marking, signing and mailing the ballots back. Only mailed ballots that make it to the Central City Post Office by 5 pm on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, can be counted, so mail them early.

There are other options, though: the Old Courthouse in Central City will be open for a full week before the election, including Saturday (Halloween Day!) as what is now called a Voter Service and Polling Center. Monday through Friday of that week (October 26-30), the VSPC will be open from 8 until 4:30 (and again on Monday, November 2); Saturday (Halloween) it will be open from 9 until 1.

Voters can just drop off their mail ballots at the VSPC, or vote by either paper ballot or electronically. There are other tasks that can be completed at the VSPC, including address changes and even registration, providing the voter has lived in Colorado for 22 days before the election.

There also will be a 24-hour drop-off box located at the Community Center on Norton Drive.

All of this information and more is available at the elections page of the Clerk & Recorder’s section of the County website, at https://co.gilpin.co.us.  That page also has a link to the state election website, www.GoVoteColorado.com, which has lots of helpful information and where voters can change their registration information through October 26. After that, those things have to be done in person at the VSPC.

As mentioned, while the election process closes for the voters at 7 pm on Election Day, the Clerk’s staff and the election judges have much to do after that to tally, record and disseminate the results. With mail ballots, counting can begin as early October 19, so some of the work can be done in advance. Counting of provisional ballots can continue through November 17, before the results can be certified as truly official.

And then we can all start getting ready for the presidential elections next year!