Colorado Springs city clerk: Some voters don’t realize they need to unfold their ballots to vote for council candidates
Voters, note! Every ballot for the Colorado Springs April 4 election has four questions – three issues and your choice of candidate.
Unfold the ballot, City Clerk Sarah Johnson advises. Because if you’re waiting to choose a candidate when a second ballot hits your mailbox, rest assured that won’t happen.
A few ballots already have arrived with only three of the four questions completed, but that could be because the voter didn’t want to select a candidate, Johnson said.
Luckily, she said, she’s managed to set straight the few voters who called and expressed confusion.
Not so luckily, anyone who inadvertently completed only part of the ballot is out of luck. Once that document is dropped in the ballot box, it’s a done deal, Johnson said.
City clerk’s staff members have no idea from whom any ballot originates, because their crews of volunteers remove and discard the signed sleeves and envelopes as they start to tally votes, she said.
So unfold your ballot, consider your four options, and take your time. Ballot boxes will accept your selections up to 7 p.m. April 4.
Any voter who doesn’t get a ballot or has questions on voting, should call the City Clerk’s Office at 719-385-5901, option 4.
And when you’re ready to make your votes count, you can drop your ballot anytime at these 24/7 locations:
– East Library, 5550 N. Union Blvd.
– Library 21c, 1175 Chapel Hills Drive
– Black Forest Park-n-Ride, 7503 Black Forest Road
– Citizens Service Center, 1675 W. Garden of the Gods Road
– The El Paso County clerk’s downtown branch, 200 S. Cascade Ave.
– The county clerk’s southeast branch, 5650 Industrial Place, Suite 100
– The county clerk’s north branch, 8830 N. Union Blvd.
From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, ballots can be dropped at the City Clerk’s Office, 30 S. Nevada Ave.; at the Colorado Springs Senior Center, 1514 N. Hancock Ave.; or at the YMCA Southeast Family Center, 2190 Jet Wing Drive.
The same hours apply – but only until 4:30 p.m. weekdays – at the county clerk’s Fort Carson branch, 6351 Wetzel Ave., Building 1525.
City employees, election judges or both are collecting ballots from the drop-off sites at least daily and on weekends when needed. The ballots are being returned to the City Clerk’s Office for processing. Ballot boxes at the Senior Center and YMCA are secured in a locked room when the location isn’t in use.
Each ballot collection is documented on a daily log to be deposited in each ballot box returned to the City Clerk’s Office.
–
Contact Billie Stanton Anleu: 636-0371





