Colorado's 2020 General Election: Deadlines, Voter Registration

COLORADO — The Nov. 3 election is just around the corner, and elections officials across Colorado are busy preparing their counties for another round of vote-by-mail ballots.

The winners of Colorado's June primary have advanced to the Nov. 3 election, which will also include a number of ballot measures and judicial nominees.

Elections officials are encouraging Coloradans to make sure they are registered to vote and that their voter registration is up to date.

Here are some important dates for the Nov. 3 election:

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Sept. 19 - Ballots sent overseas to military voters.

Oct. 9 - Ballots mailed to Colorado voters.

Oct. 19 - Polling centers and drop boxes open; counting begins for the election.

Oct. 26 - Last day to submit a voter registration application and still receive a ballot in the mail. Note: If the county clerk receives a voter registration application within the eight days before the election, the clerk must process the application and inform the applicant that they will not receive a mail ballot and will have to visit a voter service and polling center.

Nov. 3 - General Election day - polls will open at 7 a.m., and all ballots must be received by 7 p.m.

Nov. 12 - Last day for ballots cast by military and overseas electors to be received by the county clerk in order to be counted.

Colorado elections officials have installed hundreds of new voting drop boxes across the state, particularly in rural areas, ahead of the election.

Coloradans have been voting by mail for years, but mail-in voting is new to many other states. More than 500,000 mail-in ballots went uncounted during the 2020 primary season nationwide, many of them because they were deemed incomplete or because they arrived too late.