Mailboxes – choked with glossy corporate promotions and unrelenting bills – strike dread in many Durangoans’ hearts.
But in the coming days, La Plata County residents can expect something spine tingling, deeply personal and utterly American to arrive in the post: Their general-election ballots, which were mailed Tuesday.
It’s Colorado’s first mail-only ballot election. Polling stations and precincts are a thing of the past.
And Tiffany Parker, La Plata County clerk and recorder, said thanks to a series of 2013 voting reforms, she’s expecting record turnout.
“I can’t wait to see how this election is going to go in terms of turnout with all the election reforms. I want an 80 percent turnout,” she said. “And because of things like same-day registration and voting-service stations, there’s no reason we can’t do it.”
Parker said thanks to a series of 2013 election reforms, more La Plata County residents than ever will be able to have a voice in who governs them.
“It used to be that if you just wanted to vote in a presidential election but didn’t vote in the midterms, we had to remove you from our list and put you on ‘fail-to-vote’ status,” Parker said, meaning many registered voters didn’t get ballots.
“But now, as long as you’re registered, we’re mailing you a ballot. What’s vital is that people give us the correct, up-to-date address,” said Parker.
Parker isn’t the only La Plata County resident who’s thrilled about voting.
While turnout tends to be bigger overall in mail-in-ballot elections, people vote in three distinct waves until Nov. 4, Election Day.
The most profoundly excited – and partisan – voters form the first wave.
“You see this trend in mail-in elections. We start counting ballots on Oct. 20. But a lot of people vote right away,” Parker said. “They’ve done all their research, and nothing is going to change their mind. Then it slows down, until the very end, when there’s a rush.”
While die-hard politicos still live by the old adage, “vote early, vote often,” casting one’s ballot weeks before Election Day has its risks.
Parker said some voters – conditioned by swift boating and monkey business to expect election-eve developments – hesitate to mail in their ballot for fear of missing a bombshell revelation.
After all, what if one of the candidates running for the U.S. Senate, the Colorado House of Representatives or La Plata County sheriff gets embroiled in a salacious, late-breaking scandal?
Parker said once your vote is cast, it’s cast – you can’t change your mind.
“It doesn’t happen very frequently. But we do get someone coming in every now and then, saying they want to change their vote. But they can’t. It’s against the law. Once you actually drop that ballot into a mailbox – you can’t get that back,” she said.
But just as many otherwise virtuous people file their tax returns April 15, last-minute voters often cast ballots right up against the deadline because procrastination is a vital survival strategy in the midst of an impossibly busy life.
“People hang onto them for different reasons. Many people get their ballot in the mail and think, ‘Wow, I haven’t read anything about the election yet, and I’d better do my research.’ A lot of us – between kids and work – have to find time to look into the races, ask friends and neighbors whether they have similar views before we can make a decision,” Parker said.
“Other people, they think, ‘Hey. What new story am I going to read in the Herald? It’s kind of all over the board,” she said.
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
