Colorado Election Day 2009: Deadline for mail-in ballots arrives

DENVER - Election Day 2009 only involves mail ballots. Colorado voters have until 7 p.m. Tuesday to get their mail ballots counted. It's too late to mail them, so ballots must be dropped off at the county clerk and recorder's office, or a designated drop off site.

"Your voted mail-in ballot has to be in the possession of your county clerk by 7 p.m. Postmark does not count," Denver Clerk and Recorder Spokesman Alton Dillard said. "You can not stick it in the mail on Election Day and expect it to be counted. So you need to check with your respective counties to see what's going to be the best way to get those ballots back. "

At about this time last year, voters cast their ballots to determine the next President of the United States. This year, the issues before Colorado voters are not in the national spotlight. However, there are important issues voters must decide.

Some issues are more controversial than others. For example, in Denver there is Initiative 300, which would allow an officer to impound your vehicle if you are caught driving without your license, even if you simply forgot it at home.

In Breckenridge, voters must decide Initiative 2F, which would allow adults to legally possess one once or less of marijuana. Denver voters approved a similar measure in 2005, but state law still makes marijuana possession illegal, so officers can still make arrests.

And in Aurora, voters have an opportunity to restore funding to libraries that are currently slated for cutbacks in Aurora's 2010 proposed budget.

Karen Long, Adams County Clerk and Recorder, hopes voters will fill out their mail-in ballots and get them dropped off by 7 p.m. Tuesday. She says the issues voters have before them will impact their daily lives.

"This is really the grassroots level of government," Long said. "When you talk about school districts, and your special districts, like fire districts, and your city council races and mayor races."

Long says despite the important issues on the ballot, she is seeing the lowest voter turnout in Adams County in 10 years.

"The turnout in Adams County is at right about 17 percent right now." Long said. "We mailed out 194,000 ballots this year in Adams County, and we've only received about 32,000 back, or 31,000 as of 4 o'clock (Monday), and that's really pretty low. We, in 2007, we had a turnout of right at 40 percent in this county. And I would sure encourage people to take a look at the ballots that they receive in the mail and vote those ballots. Do not drop them in the mail at this late date.

"We have, in Adams County, 16 drop off locations around the county and at all of our city clerk's offices located in Adams County, and our motor vehicle offices located in Adams County, our drop off sites. And if you're unsure of those addresses, the web site displays a list of our drop off locations," she added.

Long says the cost of mailing and printing a mail ballot is about $1 per ballot. She says a mail ballot election is less expensive than an election involving polling places. She is hoping the return in Adams County will increase by the deadline.

"Gosh I would hope to see 20, 25, 28, 30 percent. We have ramped up our staff. We're ready to process and count as many ballots as we get in between now and 7 p.m. on election night. Remember the ballots have to be in to a clerk's office or a drop-off location by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3rd."

For more specific information about ballot drop off locations in your area, click on your county below:
Adams County
Arapahoe County
Boulder County
City and County of Denver
Douglas County
Jefferson County