Fall election season coming to a close, drop off your ballots

Nearly 3,000 ballots in as of Tuesday. Have you voted yet?

By Cayla Vidmar

Gunnison County voters are hitting the polls early this election season. As of Tuesday, October 30, 2,918 citizens had submitted their ballots to the county clerk’s office.

Election Day is coming up on November 6, and time is running out to get your vote counted for this year’s mid-term election. Ballots were mailed out October 15 through October 19, so if you have not received your ballot, stop by the Gunnison County elections office in the Blackstock Building in Gunnison or at the full-service polling station at the Queen of All Saints Parish Hall, 405 Sopris Avenue in Crested Butte to vote or pick up a replacement ballot.

Election officials want to clear up some confusion about providing an ID with your ballot. Diane Folowell, chief deputy clerk for Gunnison County, says most people will not need to provide their ID. However, in some cases—such as when an individual registers to vote and does not have a proper identification at the time of registration—they will need to provide a photocopy of an ID card with their ballot, or bring it into the elections office in the Blackstock Building, but this is “a very small percentage of people,” says Folowell.

Folowell stresses that for those who need to provide identification (your ballot will have “ID” printed next to the barcode if you need to provide your ID, see picture), if you forget to include a photocopy of your ID in your ballot, a letter will be sent within 24 hours of receipt, and you’ll have eight days to provide the elections office with your ID for your vote to count.

Folowell also asks that voters who still have mail-in ballots at the time of this printing to not mail ballots back, but rather drop off your ballot at the Queen of All Saints, or at the Blackstock Building during polling hours. (A post marked date does not count.) For a complete list of polling hours, visit GunnisonCounty.org/136/Elections-Office.

All county polling stations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 6. The Crested Butte location will also be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Monday. It will be open on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.