What you need to know for voting

The Nov. 4 general election is two months away, and preliminary indications are that the ballot will once again be very long, possibly two pages.

Along with the candidate races for president, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, state Senate, state representa­tive, district attorney, University of Colorado regent and local county commissioners for District 1 and 2, there will be many (already 20) state amendments and referenda and several municipal races and issues.

This election will be a polling-place election, and all locations will have paper ballots available along with the Hart Elec­tronic voting machines many of you used in pre­vious elections. Voters will be able to choose their method of voting at all locations.

I encourage voters to consider the options available to them (early voting, voting by mail or at the polling locations on Election Day), taking into consideration the length of the ballot and time needed to vote.

Please know that we are doing everything possi­ble to staff and organize our polling locations for maximum efficiency to make sure wait times are minimized.

We will publish the official ballot content along with the polling locations, information on voting options and deadlines in the Eagle Valley Enter­prise, Vail Daily and Valley Journal on Thursday, Oct. 23, in the legal notices section.

This information also will be available on our Web site at www.eaglecounty.us as soon as the final bal­lot layout is complete, which typically occurs in ear­ly October.

Please be aware that although all races and issues will be published, you may not be eligible to vote on everything, depending on where you reside.

Oct. 6 is the last date to register to vote, or update your residence address if you’ve moved, to be eligi­ble to participate in the Nov. 4 general election.

Voter registration application forms are available online at www.eaglecounty.us/clerk under “ Voting Related Links” on the right-hand side, or at clerk and recorder offices located in Avon, El Jebel and Eagle as well as at all town clerk offices throughout Eagle County. Completed forms can be faxed, e-mailed or mailed, but they must be received or postmarked on or before Oct. 6.

Regardless of a voter’s home precinct, all voters will have the option of voting early at any of our offices in Avon, Eagle or El Jebel weekdays begin­ning Oct. 20 through Oct. 31 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Voters who prefer to vote by mail can request that a ballot be mailed to them by completing and returning a mail-in ballot application, also available at www.eaglecounty.us/clerk under “ Voting Relat­ed Links” at the right side of the Web page.

The deadline for requesting a ballot by mail is Oct. 28.

All mail ballots must be received in one of our offices by 7 on election night. Please be aware that ballots cannot be forwarded and ballots received after Nov. 4 cannot be counted.

Identification will be required for those choosing to vote in person early or on Election Day. There are many acceptable forms of identification, the most common of which are valid Colorado driver’s licens­es, valid U. S. passports, Medicare cards and student IDs from accredited institutions of higher education in Colorado.

If you are anxious to know how Eagle County vot­ed and plan to stay up late on Election night, results should be posted to our Web site, www. eaglecounty. us, after 10 p. m. on Nov. 4. We also will make every effort to post partial results as they are reported from the precincts.

For questions about your polling location, other acceptable forms of identification, whether or not you have already signed up to receive a mail ballot, or anything else related to the election, call our election depart­ment at 970-328-8715, or send me an e- mail at teak. simonton@eagle county.us body copy.

Teak Simonton is the clerk and recorder of Eagle County.