By Carly Koppes, Molly Fitzpatrick, and Tiffany Lee
As three of Colorado’s 64 county clerks, we want to send a clear message to Colorado voters: our election systems remain secure and are working as intended. If you’re registered to vote, you will receive a ballot this fall, and your voice will be heard.
That’s the truth we as Republican, Democratic, and Unaffiliated clerks want every voter to know.
Right now, bad actors across the country are muddying the waters and seeking political gain by confusing voters. They want us to feel confused, frustrated and cynical so more people will sit this election out. They want you to believe that your vote doesn’t matter– or even that it might not count at all. What helps them most is when people who should know better help spread those fears and lies, even if inadvertently.
We were alarmed after reading a recent Denver Post Editorial Board piece, which told readers to prepare for their ballots to not arrive in the mail this fall. While we understand the source of that fear, right now it is simply wrong and we want to correct the record.
This month, the Supreme Court rejected the federal government’s attempt to impose mail voting restrictions ahead of November’s elections. Its ruling means states will continue to mail ballots to voters, as planned, allowing the millions of Americans and more than 92% of Colorado voters who voted by mail in 2024 to have their voice heard.
The three of us run elections in very different corners of Colorado. We don’t always agree on politics. But we agree completely that Colorado’s elections work, that they are safe and secure and that they will run as usual in November.
It’s true there are, as the Board pointed out, several court cases and federal actions that are trying to create uncertainty in our elections, across the nation. It’s true that the legal fight could turn against the current system by 2028. But a federal judge in Massachusetts and now the U.S. Supreme Court have, in fact, blocked the recent Postal Service rule that the Board believed could have caused voters in Colorado to not receive their ballots in the mail.
So what remains true, right now, is that nothing about registering to vote, receiving or returning your mailed ballot has changed.
Even if the legal fight turns against Colorado in 2028, we have redundancies in place. Our system does not depend on any single piece of mail arriving on schedule. Every active registered voter gets a ballot in the mail. And BallotTrax lets you watch yours move from our office, to your mailbox and back again by email or text.
If your ballot is late arriving in the mail, your county clerk can send you a new one. You can drop a ballot in a secure drop box, hand it to a poll worker or vote in person at any Voter Service and Polling Center, where you can also register or update your registration on the spot. Every ballot that comes back is checked before it’s counted.
We urge every Coloradan: confirm your voter registration and your current address today and sign up for BallotTrax. Watch for your ballot in the mail starting October 2, and return it early. If anything looks wrong, call your county clerk’s office now, not on or after 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Election officials owe voters the truth. Speculation dressed up as an emergency alarm doesn’t protect anyone – it only tells people that voting isn’t worth the trouble, which causes more damage than any single order out of Washington.
The choice to vote is still yours to make. Check your registration, watch for your ballot, and cast it. If you run into a problem, we’ll be there to help.
Don’t let anyone or anything, especially a headline, talk you out of exercising your most basic right to vote.
Carly Koppes is the Colorado County Clerks Association President and Weld County Clerk and Recorder and a registered Republican. Molly Fitzpatrick is the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder and a registered Democrat. Tiffany Lee is the La Plata County Clerk and Recorder, and is Unaffiliated with a political party.
