Voting isn’t what it used to be.
Not too long ago, you could rely on the polls being at the same place they had always been, where you’d cast your ballot on Election Day the same way you always had.
No, these days, there are options. You can use mail ballots, maybe early voting or traditional polling places.
We like the added options, but they also require, for now, a dose of voter vigilance, patience and perseverance.
Exercising this important civic duty is worth a bit of a struggle — after all, we’ve lost thousands of men and women defending your right to vote, so standing in line for a few minutes shouldn’t be a big deal — but government officials shouldn’t make it too difficult.
Consider the issues that voters must navigate. Efforts to call into question some voter registrations have been confusing. Is your registration complete and active, or were you removed from the active rolls?
Check your registration on the Colorado secretary of state’s website in advance of Election Day. (www.sos.state.co.us/)
You also might be one of the thousands of voters wondering whether your elections department even got your mail ballot application because you still haven’t received a ballot.
With thousands of mail-in ballot requests still not processed, voters have to be pro-active. Check with the secretary of state or call your county elections division.
Making sure your vote counts means taking charge of your vote and following through.
We hope those voters who’ve received mail ballots fill them out and return them. That might mean getting the postage right or taking the extra step to ensure you’re dropping them off at the right place.
And you’ll have to get on the stick. In Denver, for instance, the U.S. Postal Service is recommending that if you’re planning on returning your ballot by mail, you do so by Friday. Yes, this Friday.
A story in Tuesday’s Denver Post said that only a third of the nearly 1.6 million mail-in ballots sent to Colorado voters have been returned, so there are a lot of folks out there who need to get going.
Of course, many counties have drop boxes for mail ballots, but once again, you’ll have to do your homework to figure out what your deadline is.
Ever since the 2000 election highlighted painful shortcomings in this country’s electoral system, there have been reforms, and efforts to refine those reforms.
If there is one thing you can count on, it’s that more change is likely. Given Coloradans’ demonstrated huge interest in mail ballots, it’s possible that voting that way could become the norm here.
This election season has been inspiring for the interest and participation it has evoked.
We hope the fervor is matched by voter perseverance. Every vote should count.
