Election Day is only 6 weeks away. Are you ready?

Now is the time to familiarize yourself with all of the candidates and ballot issues so you are ready to fill out and return your ballot.

We are being flooded with yard signs and ads, especially from and about the candidates at the top of the ticket: President/Vice-President, Senator and US Representative. State, county, and local candidates are also on the ballot.  As are the things that you hear the least about: ballot measures. Our 2020 ballots have over a dozen statewide, county and municipal propositions, constitutional amendments, and ballot measures. These are printed at the end of the ballot but often have significant local and state-wide impact, so please be sure to vote all the way down! 

STATE BALLOT MEASURES 
We listed the statewide ballot measures in last week's email. The Ballot Information Booklet (a.k.a. The Blue Book) is now available to provide more information about those measures. The Blue Book is prepared by the State of Colorado General Assembly and, in addition to being available online, is also mailed to everyone who is registered to vote. It summarizes and analyzes, in both English and Spanish, each measure, provides non-partisan arguments both For and Against, and outlines the fiscal impacts of each. It is a great resource that includes information that is often hard to find anywhere else.

LOCAL MEASURES 
This week we want to highlight local measures. The composite ballot for Eagle County was issued just last week, and it provides the titles and descriptions of each local ballot item. (Note that your personal ballot will look different from the composite, as it will include only the issues on which you are eligible to vote based on where you live.)

This year’s local measures fall into two main categories: 

Providing financing that would otherwise be unavailable for basic services, often to deal with the impact the Gallagher Amendment has on local (and especially rural) finances. There are ballot measures to address financing of Eagle County Public schools, Colorado River Water Conservation District needs, and town and county services in the Towns of Vail and Eagle and in Eagle County. If the Statewide measure to repeal the Gallagher Amendment (Amendment B) passes, many of these local measures will not be necessary in the future.

Making one-off changes in specific municipalities, including allowing the Town of Gypsum to keep revenues from tobacco sales, adopting town rule in the Town of Eagle, allowing part of the Town of Eagle to pursue a Downtown Development Authority, and amending the Avon Home rule regarding Council member compensation. 

We encourage you to seek out additional information from your town and from the Eagle County Commissioners about their proposed measures.

YOUR VOTING PLAN
Ballots will be mailed on October 9th, which is just 2.5 weeks away! Now is a good time to make your plan to vote.

Check your Voter Registration: Make sure your registration is up to date, including your residential and mailing addresses, at govotecolorado.gov. 

Gather information about your candidates and the ballot measures: See above for the Composite Ballot and for the link to the State Blue Book.

Think about how you will submit your Ballot: drop it off in a 24 hour ballot box, drop it in person at a voter service center, mail it back (two stamps!) or vote in person at any voter service center. 

Sign up for Ballot Trax: You can sign up to watch your ballot as it goes through the system. Go to https://colorado.ballottrax.net/voter/ to get registered.

Locations and hours for all of the above can be found at https://www.eaglecounty.us/Clerk/Voting_and_Elections/Upcoming_Elections/. 

For any questions about your ballot and voting locations, contact elections@eaglecounty.us or call 970-328-8715. They are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable and are willing and ready to answer your questions!

We always welcome your questions or thoughts – email us at vailvalleyvotes@gmail.com.

Vail Valley Votes