Last Day To Vote!

Denver voters have until today to vote. You must hand deliver the ballot you received because it is too late to mail your ballot. When and where?

Your voted ballot must be received by the Denver Elections Division by 7 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted. An Election Day postmark will not be honored if your ballot is received after Election Day. Please remember to sign your mail ballot before you return it.

You can return your voted ballot to a Voter Service Center located at the Denver Elections Division, 3888 E. Mexico Ave. or the Wellington Webb Building, Atrium, 201 W. Colfax Ave. from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, October 31 and Monday, November 2. Voter Service Centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day. Drive-through ballot drop-off is also available in front of the Elections Division during the same hours.

The drop off is easy. You can drive by and hand it to someone without getting out of your car and you don't even need a stamp. The Mexico Avenue location is just West of Colorado Boulevard and just North of I-25.

There are school board races and Denver municipal ballot issue 300. The right answer to the municipal ballot issue is "No." It is an anti-immigrant measures that would also inflict considerable collateral damage on the city's finances, our city's capacity to police itself without having resources diverted to car impoundents, and innocent people swept into a zero tolerance policy. If you aren't sure how to vote, my prior post on the topic, and the links and comments there, can help.

In 2007, the most recent comparable election, 93,644 people voted.

In 2005, the next most recent comparable election, 117,212 people voted.

In 2003, 100,632 people voted.

In 2001, 95,251 people voted.

As of the end of the day yesterday, 63,885 people had voted. In order to meet historical levels another 30,000 votes need to come in either by mail from yesterday and before, or by being dropped off. It is safe to expect that at more than 12,000 ballots will be received today (the number received yesterday which was the highest so far in the election). But, with 243,002 ballots not yet returned as of yesterday, turnout could vary greatly based upon today's results.

Conventional wisdom is that lower turnout produces a more conservative electorate.