The polls and ballot boxes are open today and the Ouray County clerk wants you to know you have several ways you can vote, given the state of emergency and the Gold Mountain Fire.
Ballots for the primary election are due by 7 p.m. today for votes to be counted.
An online voting method has been activated due to the state of emergency, according to Ouray County Clerk Damon Todd.
The link on the county clerk’s website allows voters to cast their ballot online, and then those ballots will be printed and scanned by elections staff.
The online ballot comes directly to the elections office, Todd said.
“It’s really the same thing as them bringing us their ballot,” he said.
This online option to vote is convenient for anyone who had to evacuate and may have left the area, or cannot access a paper ballot they left at home, ensuring they can still participate in the election.
This type of online voting is already used for overseas and military voters.
If you have a paper ballot you need to return, those can be turned in at any of the county’s ballot boxes — including the one at the Ouray County 4-H Event Center, 22739 U.S. Highway 550, which has become ground zero for the firefighting operations on the Gold Mountain Fire. The ballot box in front of the event center building is still accessible for anyone who would like to drop off their ballot.
There are two other locations with drop boxes — in Colona by the “welcome to Colona” sign at 35 Hotchkiss Ave. and at the Ouray County Courthouse drop box at 541 Fourth St. in Ouray.
County Road 17, the alternate route to Ouray, remains open to local traffic for anyone who would like to turn in their ballot at the courthouse ballot box or access the voter service center. For anyone who does not feel comfortable driving the alternate route on County Road 17, due to the continued closure of U.S. Highway 550 north of Ouray, online voting is available
Voters can also obtain replacement ballots in person at the courthouse voter service center, and are able to vote in person if they need accommodations.
If you already turned in your ballot and you want to make sure it was received, you can track your ballot here. It is too late to mail your ballot and have it counted.
For more information or questions, call 970-325-4000 or email elections@ourayco.gov.
Ouray County has 4,711 active registered voters, and as of this morning the clerk’s office had received 1,458 ballots cast in this primary election, according to Todd.
It’s unclear how many people have been evacuated since Saturday from areas including Panoramic Heights, Lake Lenore, upper County Road 14, Peck’s Trailer Park and the area stretching north from Peck’s Trailer Park to Cedar Hill Cemetery on the east side of U.S. Highway 550.
