Colorado’s top election official and local county clerks are asking voters to drop-off their fall ballots by hand if they haven’t already put them in the mail. The issue is whether the postal service can deliver ballots back to county officials in time for the election.
Some counties have noticed it’s taking longer than usual for voters to receive their ballots in the first place. Jean Alberico heads Garfield County’s elections. She says hand-delivering ballots is always a good insurance policy, this close to election day, but recent changes are also affecting mail delivery. “We used to have a general mail facility here in Glenwood Springs, and in their restructuring, the closest general mail facility is in Grand Junction. So if you drop your ballot off at the post office in Glenwood Springs, it will go by truck to be processed,” before returning to Glenwood.
Alberico doesn’t want to discourage voters from using their mail-in ballots, just to hand them in to make sure they can get counted. Pitkin County Clerk and Recorder’s Office sent out an alert Tuesday, asking voters to use the drop-off sites at Aspen’s main election headquarters or the Jewish Community Center on Main Street. Eagle County is also recommending submitting ballots by hand.
