COLORADO SPRINGS – There was a steady stream of cars stopping by one of the 24-hour ballot drop-off locations, off of Garden of the Gods, Thursday afternoon.
As of Thursday morning, the El Paso County Elections Department had received 120,000 mail ballots–putting them on track to surpass the number of ballots they received in the 2014 Midterm election.
“We have a gubernatorial race, Secretary of State race, Attorney General, State Treasurer race–so I think the ballot content is generating a lot of interest here in this state,” Chuck Broerman, El Paso County Clerk and Recorder.
Broerman says 95% of the votes will come in through mail and ballot drop off sites.
That leaves a small percentage of voters who will come into an actual polling location.
But if you stop there on Election Day, don’t expect the lines to be small.
“Typically we see something in the area of 20 minutes or 30 minutes on Election Day. I guarantee you no lines this rest of this week,” Broerman told News5.
It’s too late to put your ballot in the mail, but the county has sixteen different drop boxes–open 24 hours.
And for those who haven’t registered to vote yet, there’s no registration cutoff in Colorado–meaning you can go in to a polling center and register between now and Tuesday night (polls close at 7 p.m.), and submit your ballot that same day.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
If you work more than nine hours in that time frame, your employer is legally required to provide up to two hours of paid time off to allow you to go and vote.
You must put that request in prior to Election Day, though.
More information on that state law can be found by clicking here.
Broerman says if you’re planning on coming to one of the county’s 28 polling centers on Election Day, come prepared.
“It’s important if they are going to come on Election Day to have done their research–so that when they do get their ballot, they can process that through rather quickly.”
The El Paso County Elections Department has enlisted the help of 300 volunteers to help out at polling center around the county.
Currently, 15 polling center are open–but that number will jump up to 28 on Monday.
For more information, click here.
RELATED:
