Ballots go out June 4, but remember, don't spoil it

DENVER, May 21, 2018 -- Ballots for the June 26 primary election will be mailed in two weeks as Coloradans choose their nominees in several key open races, including governor, attorney general and state treasurer.

Voters also will select their nominees for Congress, the Colorado General Assembly and other races; the list is on the Secretary of State website. Counties also are holding elections for sheriff, commissioner, clerk and recorder and other offices.

It's the first time in state history that unaffiliated voters will be able to participate in the primary without first choosing to be a member of a particular party.

Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams has been delivering a blunt message to those unaffiliated voters: Don't spoil it -- only vote one ballot.

That's because they will receive both the Democratic and Republican ballots unless they earlier selected which ballot they wanted mailed to their residence. If a person votes both the Republican and Democratic ballot, neither one will count.

Coloradans in 2016 approved Proposition 108, which allows automatic participation for unaffiliated voters.

Williams kicked of the UChooseCO campaign earlier this year in Grand Junction, Colorado Springs and Denver amid concerns that unaffiliated voters might not be aware they can now automatically participate, and that they would return both the Republican and Democratic ballots. He is working with county clerks, who also have been involved in the campaign. Some hosted an 8-foot yellow inflatable U in their community to highlight the change for unaffiliated voters, while others have decorated wooden U's.

“The voters have spoken,” Williams said, “and it’s the job of election officials to implement their will as best we can."

County clerks faced a May 12 deadline to mail ballots for overseas and military voters.