COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Tuesday marks a big day across the country as Colorado and 15 other states hold primaries on this Super Tuesday. In El Paso County, the Clerk and Recorder's Office has 39 secure mail ballot drop boxes for voters to use.
Voters can also drive up and drop off their ballot until 7 p.m. outside Centennial Hall on Cascade Avenue in Downtown Colorado Springs.
News5 spoke with several voters on Tuesday in Colorado Springs about the sense of civic pride they feel when they vote.
“You can't make a difference if you don't vote,” Sharon Nemeth, a voter said. “I believe in the whole process and I did not want to mail it in. I just wanted to come down here and deliver it."
Nemeth makes it a priority to vote.
“Because not enough people do it. I mean you can't complain if you don't vote is my feeling on it and so there's a lot of people that brag about not voting, that's not something to be proud of,” Nemeth said.
She believes people are intimidated by voting or they don't believe their opinion matters.
“But one vote can make a difference in an election, we found that out in school elections,” Nemeth said.
Nemeth was a history teacher at Palmer High School for many years and taught students about elections.
“The election people down here would bring voting machines to the school and the whole student body would use voting machines because I thought it was really important that they learn how to vote,” Nemeth said.
She wanted her students to not be afraid of politics or voting.
“So we ran all of our school elections with the voting machine from Centennial Hall,” Nemeth said. “It was a good experience for kids because they get used to doing it, they are not afraid of doing it when they have already used the voting machine at school.”
Deanna Zobel-Grey also dropped off her ballot.
“For today, Super Tuesday, it was fairly easy for me because I feel like I am pretty informed about today's vote,” Zobel-Grey said.
She says spends time researching the candidates before she votes.
“I love reading up on the issues and staying informed. That is a really big part for me, and then making a choice and being heard, I think that is important for me,” Zobel-Grey said.
News5 asked Zobel-Grey and Nemeth why they think it is important to vote.
“Because there's a lot going on in this country that a lot of people don't like and you're not going to get anything to change if it just stays the same,” Nemeth said.
“I do have a choice in lots of things and I want to continue to have a choice and I think by voting it gives us the opportunity to speak our mind in one way or another,” Zobel-Grey said.
They both said they do not feel voter fatigue or burnout.
“I think people are really passionate right now and this is a way to exercise our rights and that passion we have for having and saying in what is happening today and what's beyond,” Zobel-Grey said.
Charles Barber also dropped off his ballot outside Centennial Hall. Barber said one of the reasons he served in the United States military was to protect people's freedoms, such as their right to vote.
“Voting is probably one of the most underrated activities the general citizens should appreciate now,” Barber said.
These voters said they believed their opinion and vote matters and encouraged other people to vote as well.
RELATED
Colorado Voter Guide
Election Results
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