Pamela Bacon, Logan County Clerk & Recorder
May 3, 2023
Life of a Ballot:
1. Ballots are mailed: All registered active voters in Colorado receive a ballot by mail about three weeks prior to Election Day, earlier if you are an overseas voter or active military voter.
2. You vote and return your ballot:
· You can return your ballot without a stamp to our drop box location by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
· You can return your ballot through the U.S. Postal Service with appropriate postage.
· You can return your ballot or vote in person at the Voter Service and Polling Center by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
· Ballots must be received by the County Clerk and Recorder no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day.
· Postmarks DO NOT count.
3. Ballots are picked up from the 24-hour drop box: The ballots are picked up by a bi-partisan team of election judges that have undergone a background check. The list of election judges has been designated by the two major parties. The returned ballots are not allowed to be left unattended or alone with only one election judge.
4. Receiving ballots at our county office: Once we receive your ballot from the drop box, counter, or the mail. A team of bi-partisan judges count the ballots and record the number of ballots returned and where they were returned from on a log in preparation for verifying that each voter has returned only one ballot. This process is done by pinging the ballot envelope into the SCORE statewide voter registration system.
5. Verifying signatures: The signature on your return envelope is compared to your signature on file in the SCORE statewide voter registration system database and verified by a bipartisan team of election judges before we process your ballot.
Ballot packets that require an evaluation are reviewed by teams of election judges representing different political affiliations who have received advanced training. These are ballot packets that have: missing envelope signatures, signatures that were rejected by the signature verification teams, any other type of signature discrepancy, are from voters who are required to provide ID with their ballot but did not or are a provisional ballot. Election judges reference voter history information in SCORE (Colorado’s Statewide Voter Registration System) to evaluate these ballots.
6. Ballots are removed from envelope: • Ballots are removed from envelopes by teams of election judges representing different political affiliations. Judges separate each ballot from its envelope. This process ensures that the voted ballot remains confidential and cannot be associated with the voter signature on the envelope. Once all ballots have been removed from the envelopes the judges unfold, smooths, stack, shuffle, and counts the ballots to prepare them to be scanned. The separated ballot return envelopes are sealed and stored in a secure room for a period of 25 months as required by statute.
7. Ballots are examined: If a ballot is damaged, has stray marks, corrections, or if the wrong type of pen was used, a team of bi-partisan election judges use our high-resolution ballot imaging software and the Voter Intent Guide produced by the office of the Secretary of State to resolve the ballot issue.
• Ballot Duplication
• UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) ballots that are returned secure electronic transmission, provisional ballots that are accepted, emergency ballots, ADA ballots, statewide ballots, and damaged ballots are duplicated by a team of election judges to create a paper ballot that is acceptable for scanning. One judge reads the voted ballot information, and one judge enters the information. All information is cross-checked by the second team of judges before the duplicated ballot is scanned.
8. Counting your ballot: After the polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day, the images of the scanned ballots are counted by a tabulation machine.
9. Reporting results: Results are tabulated and reported to the public beginning after 7 p.m. on Election Day. Counties must produce preliminary unofficial election results, a minimum of three times on election night.
· After the polls close but no later than 8: p.m.,
· At or around 8: p.m.,
· And at least one additional time on election night.
· Counties must report complete results to the Secretary of State no later than the 9th day after the election.
· The final certification of votes cast is due to the Secretary of State no later than the 22nd day after the election.
All mail ballot processing areas are under 24-hour video surveillance.
The Election and Recording Department can be reached at 522-1544 for voter and election questions or recording information. The Motor Vehicle Department can be reached at 522-1158 for license plates/renewals or titling a vehicle. You can also reach our office by email at baconp@logancountyco.gov . Like us on Facebook at Logan County Elections/MotorVehicle/Recording!