County wants local voters to drop off ballots early at polls

Locations in Crested Butte and Gunnison

By Mark Reaman

The great 2019 fall election will come to a close on Tuesday, November 5 and county election officials are encouraging voters to get their ballots in early. As of Wednesday, 2,338 ballots had been returned. That is out of a total of 11,796 ballots that were mailed out by mid-October.

In Colorado, all ballots are mail ballots. Prior to 2013, the majority of voters would line up at a local precinct to cast a vote in person. According to Gunnison County elections director Diane Folowell, when the mail ballot was put into practice other changes came about as well to protect voter privacy.

Folowell explains, “Many of those changes involved business processes that are necessary in order to process a mail ballot, i.e., signature verification, specific processes to separate the ballot from the envelope, etc. These processes are required by law and ensure voter secrecy, transparency and accuracy in recording the vote as the voter intended. These processes all require additional time to complete. Ballots may begin to be tabulated 15 days prior to each election. The sooner a ballot is returned to the elections office the quicker it can be processed and election results tabulated and released to voters.”

Folowell emphasized that in order to better serve the voter and release results in a timely manner, the earlier a ballot is voted and returned, the sooner results will be tabulated and released. The earliest any results can be released is 7 p.m. on Election Day.

The county clerk’s office is anticipating that about 3,500 to 4,000 people will vote in this year’s election. Last year about 9,700 people cast ballots. Folowell said the turnout for the 2020 election—which includes a presidential race—is expected to be huge and could set new records. But she noted there will actually be three elections in 2020, starting with a March presidential primary, followed by a June primary and culminating with the November 3 general election.

Voters should focus on this year’s election that ends Tuesday, November 5. Do not wait to vote and drop your ballot back off to the county.

In Crested Butte, ballots can be dropped off at the Queen of All Saints Parish Hall on Sopris Avenue, open Thursday, Friday and Monday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, November 2, ballots can be dropped off from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. And on Tuesday, November 5, you can submit them from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

In Gunnison, drop ballots off at the Blackstock Government Center Thursday, Friday and Monday from 8 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, ballots will be collected from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. and on Election Day, you can drop off your ballots from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.