Voting guide for June 25: Colorado’s primary election

(COLORADO SPRINGS) — It’s an election year. While the big vote on the next president is months away, ballots for Colorado’s primary election are being mailed out.

Important dates

The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office provided a list of dates to watch out for if you want to participate in the state’s primary election:

• Monday, June 3 – Ballots will be mailed out
• Monday, June 17 – Last day to submit voter registration and receive a ballot in the mail
• Monday, June 17 – Last day to return your ballot by mail
• Monday, June 17 – All polling centers open
• Tuesday, June 25 – Deadline to register to vote
• Tuesday, June 25 – Primary Election Day, the last day to vote

According to the Secretary of State’s Office, over 200 candidates are running for various positions in various districts, with as few as two and as many as nine candidates in some districts.

“If a voter is yet to register, there’s a number of ways they could go about doing that,” Steve Schleiker, El Paso County Clerk and Recorder explained. “Go to the Secretary of State’s website, going out to my website, or if they want to go ahead and vote in person, they can also visit one of our voter service polling centers.”

Here’s who’s on the ballot

Most of El Paso County is in Congressional District 5, which is open for the first time in nearly 20 years after Congressman Doug Lamborn announced his retirement. Two Democrats and two Republicans are hoping to replace Lamborn.

The 3rd District is Colorado’s largest, covering the entire western side of the state and stretching east across the San Luis Valley to include the southern portion of the I-25 corridor. One Democrat and six Republicans are hoping to fill this seat, which is currently Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s district.

The seat Boebert has her eye on will be vacated by longtime Representative Ken Buck, who will not seek re-election after five terms. Three Democrats and six Republicans are hoping to fill the seat.

“Election day is Tuesday, June 25,” Schleiker explained. “If you are going to be using the mail service to return your ballot, please have that in the mail on or before June 17th.”

To promote transparency, the Clerk and Recorder’s Office is excited to launch a new website portal called EPC VIP (El Paso County Voter Information Portal). EPC VIP provides accessible election information, such as historical election data from past elections, as well as daily updated voter turnout data for the current election.

Once an election has been certified, election results by precinct will be available. EPC VIP additional features include datasets, visual diagrams, and mapping layers for El Paso County voter registration, voter turnout, census, precinct, district map layers, vote center, and ballot box locations with security camera live video feed, all on an interactive, user-friendly geographic information system.

A screenshot of the El Paso County Voter Information Portal, Precinct 173

“Transparency in elections fosters trust, prevents abuse and misinformation, and ensures that the democratic process reflects the true will of the people,” Schleiker explained. “Our new El Paso County Voter Information Portal (VIP) site emphasizes that every step of our election processes is transparent. Stakeholders (including political parties, election observers, and our voters) can now independently verify that our elections in El Paso County are conducted fairly, instills trust, and allows stakeholders to verify the accuracy of our election results.  I’m confident this new site will become a cornerstone of our democratic processes in El Paso County.”

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