Progress Now Action

If you, like Susan the Neon Nurse, do voter registration (and you should!), there are some new forms you need to be using. Colorado has a new permanent mail-in ballot registry which will allow you to always get your ballot by mail.

First, there is a new voter registration form. This form is for new voters, as well as those who have moved from one county to another.

English version - Link Spanish version - Link

Next, there's a new form for applying to vote by mail. Unlike the olden days (up to two weeks ago), when you register to vote by mail it's now "sticky." It used to be that you had to re-apply every year. Now, (once you fill out this form and mail it in) you'll always get your ballots in the mail unless you request otherwise.

English version - Link Spanish version not available at press time

IMPORTANT: You can not collect completed registration forms unless you are certified by the Secretary of State to conduct a voter registration drive. Check with any progressive organization you belong to, or your county party, to find out if they have already filed and if you can collect registrations on their behalf. You can, however, distribute the registration form and instruct the applicant to mail (or deliver) it to their county clerk's office. The addresses are all on the second page of the form. You can, however, collect the mail-in ballot application and return it to your county clerk's office. I recommend that you do this, because then you know it's getting done. If someone doesn't have time to fill it out and hand it to you, or you don't want to collect them, the form needs to be mailed or delivered to the county clerk's office. For this purpose, I recommend printing out several copies of the list of addresses from the registration form. Or, better yet, print the clerk's address on labels and hand one out with each application form.

Things to know about mail-in voting:

1. We WANT people voting by mail. This gives us 25+ days to get out the vote, rather than 12 hours on election day.
2. Voting by mail as soon as that ballot arrives will, in most cases, stop all of the robocalls, phone bank calls, door knocks, and even some of the campaign mail, because as soon as the ballot is turned in the voter's name drops off of the lists.
3. If a voter doesn't receive a mail ballot, or dumps coffee on it or whatever, he or she can get a new one from the county clerk up to and (in most cases) including election day.
4. If a voter gets his or her mail ballot but chooses to vote at the polls either early or on election day, he or she may do so on a provisional ballot. This is not the recommended way to go--it's best to fill out the mail ballot and drop it off at an early vote location or ballot drop-off site on election day.

And for posterity, if one of the above links gets broen, you can always download the latest forms at the Secretary of State's elections site: Link