Dear Editor,

Ballots are hitting your mailbox right about now! Gilpin County traditionally has fantastic voter turnout and I expect it to be even more so this election. But are you aware of how your ballot is handled? 

Once you’ve voted your ballot, you either drop it in a drop box (Gilpin County has three ballot drop boxes, but Colorado has almost 400 across the state, and yes, you can use any of them) or you mail it back. Dropping it in a drop box requires no stamp and ballots are picked up every 24 hours. Mailing it back can cause a delay of a few days before we receive it, and it will cost you 55 cents to mail.  A bipartisan team of election judges pick up the ballots daily from the ballot boxes and from the Post Office. Ballot envelopes are counted, sealed in a special collection bag, and a ‘chain of custody’ log is created to document who picked the ballots up, when, which location, and how many there were. All ballot boxes have a camera on them, so this is all recorded. Ballots are then brought to the processing center where a different bipartisan team of judges verifies the seals from the log and counts the number of ballots in each collection bag, and then signature verifies each ballot by scanning the envelope and checking to see if the signature on file matches the signature on the envelope in hand. If the signature is accepted, the ballot then goes to the bipartisan mail processing team where the ballots are removed from the envelopes and batched for scanning. All of this is done under secure video cameras.  If the signature is rejected by the signature verification team, a letter is generated giving the voter instructions on how to ‘cure’ their signature. You have until November 12, 2020, to cure your signature for your ballot to be counted! New this year is a Text2Cure program where you can cure your signature from your mobile device. 

If you choose to vote in-person, you will use a machine to make your choices on a screen. Since the machines don’t tabulate votes, you then print a paper ballot with your selections on it. That ballot will go into a dedicated ballot box, and then is added to the same batched piles as the mail/drop-box ballots for processing. Voting in-person can be done at the Voter Service and Polling Center (currently the Gilpin County Community Center) during specified hours. Ballot drop-boxes are open 24 hours/day since the boxes are under video surveillance. Since we are still in a pandemic, we are asking everyone who can, to please vote their mail-in ballot and drop it in a drop box. The ballot is long and there are a lot of issues to research before casting that ballot, so a mail-in ballot is more convenient to complete since you can do it over time. Did you know that the earlier you return your ballot, the sooner any phone calls asking for your vote will stop? Returning your ballot early also helps the election judges because it spreads the work out rather than having a huge number of ballots to process on election day.

You can register at Colorado.BallotTrax.net or GoVoteColorado.gov to track your ballot and see when it is received and when it is accepted. If you are already registered you will automatically receive your ballot in the mail. You can register at GoVoteColorado.gov up until October 26 and still get a ballot in the mail, but after that you will need to come to the Voter Service and Polling Center in order to vote or pick up your ballot. You can register to vote in-person at the Voter Service and Polling Center right up to 7 p.m. on Election Day, November 3, 2020.

Colorado is one of the safest states to cast a ballot because checks and balances are definitely in place. Colorado has been using the mail-in ballot system since 2013 with success. My primary responsibility as Clerk is to uphold all the Election Laws, Statutes and Rules to ensure a safe and secure election where everyone’s ballot is counted. If you have questions, please reach out at elections@gilpincounty.org. We’re happy to help answer your questions. Please vote and vote early Gilpin! Thank you!

Sahari McCormick
Gilpin County Clerk & Recorder