Fact: You do not need to request your ballot

Column by Andrea W. Doray
Posted 9/29/20

Colorado’s counties will begin mailing ballots for the Nov. 3 general election on Oct. 9, 2020. If you are a registered voter in the state of Colorado, you will receive your ballot in the mail. You …

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Fact: You do not need to request your ballot

Posted

Colorado’s counties will begin mailing ballots for the Nov. 3 general election on Oct. 9, 2020. If you are a registered voter in the state of Colorado, you will receive your ballot in the mail. You do not need to request a ballot.

Let me repeat: Every registered voter in Colorado receives a mail ballot. Your mail ballot will be sent to the mailing address you provided when you registered to vote. To check what address you provided and make any changes, go to www.GoVoteColorado.gov.

However, don’t be confused by the vote-by-mail misinformation here in Colorado, some of it arriving – wait for it – in the mail. Without consulting the individual Secretaries of State, Postal Service higher-ups decided to send a blanket post card (at taxpayer expense) to all states telling us we must request a mail ballot.

This is not true.

Fact: If you are a registered voter in the state of Colorado, you will receive your ballot in the mail. You don’t need to do anything to receive your ballot.

We could go around and around – and I have – about the concept of mail-in ballots. However, Colorado has been successfully voting by mail for seven years, along with Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah, who have followed suit. We are an exceptional model for the rest of the states, now grappling with vote-by-mail restrictions and the prospect of dangerously crowded conditions for voters who could be forced to submit a ballot in person during a pandemic.

By the way, if you would like to vote in person here in Colorado, early voting and election day polling places will be open. Be sure to identify your local locations, though, due to Covid-19 limitations.

Plus, you can register to vote up to and on election day at one of these voter service and polling center locations and then cast your ballot for the 2020 general election. Check the Colorado Secretary of State website for how to do this.

If you have already registered, though, you do not need to do anything else. If you are a registered voter in the state of Colorado, you will receive your ballot in the mail.

So, use this convenient and secure way to VOTE. Return your ballot – preferably and if possible – to one of the multitudes of ballot boxes around the state as soon as you can.

Of course, vote by mail means you can safely return your ballot via, well, via the mail if this is your preferred or only possible option. Our election officials request that you mail your ballot back, again, as soon as you can.

A greater worry than an onslaught of misinformation (I received more in an email from the Postal Service today) is the very real capacity problem projected by the USPS itself. So do return or mail your ballot back as soon as you are ready.

And, just to be clear, using our own state as an example, voter fraud has not happened and does not happen in Colorado.

If you are a registered voter in the state of Colorado, you will receive your ballot in the mail. You don’t need to do anything to receive your ballot. To return your ballot, drop it off at ballot collection boxes, vote in person at a polling center, or return it – on time – through the mail.

Just vote, whatever your ballot choice.

Andrea Doray is a writer who has voted in every election since she turned 18. Contact her at a.doray@andreadoray.com.

Andrea Doray, Election 2020, ballots

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