INDEX
1. Lyons ballot question
2. General CO Voting Facts
3. Info from CO Secretary of State

Lyons ballot question

Solar garden/array and the location:

Shall the construction of a solar generation and battery storage facility be permitted on approximately one acre of Bohn Park, southwest of the Bohn Park Dirt Jump Bike Park in the Town of Lyons? 
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See two Opinion articles this week on reasons to vote “yes” or “no.”
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GENERAL VOTING FACTS

The 2021 Coordinated Election includes state, county, and local level content.

Voted ballots must be received by county election officials by 7 p.m. on November 2.  

For more information on Colorado’s 2021 Coordinated Election, to register to vote, or update your voter registration, please visit www.GoVoteColorado.gov.   

Registering to Vote

Colorado does not have a registration deadline. Eligible voters can register and vote up to and including Election Day, Tuesday, November 2. All eligible Colorado voters are automatically mailed a ballot beginning Oct 8. In-person voting locations will also be available. A mailed ballot can be requested up till October 25.

To register to vote, check your registration, or for election information, please visit 
www.GoVoteColorado.gov.

Polling Centers & Drop Boxes

Lyons has a drop box outside of Town Hall. There are no voting stations in Lyons. Counting of ballots is not done in Lyons, even with a Lyons ballot issue on the ticket.

Voter Service and Polling Centers (VSPCs) will be open on Monday, October 25, for early voting.  This year, 405 drop boxes and 147 VSPCs will be available statewide for Colorado voters.  To find the nearest drop box or VSPC, voters can use a search tool located on the Colorado Secretary of State’s website.

Track Your Ballot

BallotTrax enables voters to receive notifications by phone, email, or text about the status of their mail ballot, from the time it is mailed to the voter, to when it is received and accepted for counting. Last year, over 1.6 million voters used BallotTrax to follow their ballots.  Voters who enrolled last year will automatically be signed up for BallotTrax this November, while those who wish to enroll can do so at www.GoVoteColorado.gov, by selecting the link for “Sign up for BallotTrax”.

“Last year, we introduced a new technological advancement that added transparency and access to our elections, BallotTrax,” said Secretary Griswold.  “Based on the incredible success of the program, I’m glad that Colorado voters statewide will again be able to track their ballots this November.  This type of innovation ensures that our elections remain the country’s gold standard.”  

NEWS FROM COLORADO SECRETARY OF STATE

CO Secretary of State is named “Top 25”

Secretary of State Jena Griswold has been singled out by Government Technology Magazine as one of its Top 25 “Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers of 2021.”  Secretary Griswold was acknowledged for the role the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office played in ensuring the 2020 General Election was safe and secure, while proactively protecting voter confidence against challenges such as foreign disinformation.             

“Colorado is the safest place to cast a ballot in today and I’m so pleased that Government Technology Magazine has recognized the hard work we’ve done to make sure our elections are secure,” said Secretary Griswold.  “I’m proud to share this prestigious accolade with the entire team at the Secretary of State’s Office, who all work tirelessly on behalf of Colorado voters.”  
 
The magazine specifically focused on the office’s preparation leading up to the General Election, starting with convincing the Department of Homeland Security to alert statewide officials of attacks on county election infrastructure, which created better synergy between state and federal election security partners. 

Government Technology also recognized the creation of Colorado’s Rapid Response Election Security Cyber Unit (RESCU), whose mission is to combat foreign disinformation on the electoral process. 

The magazine additionally acknowledged Secretary Griswold’s embrace of technology while staying committed to Colorado’s tried-and-true election security measures such as voter-verified paper ballots, no voting machines connected to the internet, and post-election Risk Limiting Audits. 

Newly Adopted Rules 8/21

The Secretary is adopting permanent rule revisions necessary to: implement Senate Bills 21-188 and 21-250; update petition review rules, and watcher and canvass rules; remove references to Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting devices and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) equipment because those systems are no longer in use in the State of Colorado; eliminate obsolete provisions; organize existing rules for clarity; simplify the language of existing rules; and ensure consistency with Department rulemaking standards. Additionally, the Secretary is permanently adopting the voting system emergency rules that were temporarily adopted on 6/17/2021.

Preventing Foreign Influence Act/SuperPacs

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold testified on 3/18/21 in front of the Colorado Senate Affairs Committee in support of the “Preventing Foreign Influence Act,” a bill to prevent foreign influence in Colorado’s elections.     

“Big corporations should not have a blank check to influence candidate elections, nor should we permit foreign influence in our electoral process,” said Secretary Griswold.  “The ‘Preventing Foreign Influence Act’ would stop big corporations with significant foreign ownership from influencing candidate elections in Colorado.  Now is the time to build our national leadership in elections by spearheading this effort to curb foreign corporate influence and put power back in the hands of everyday people.”

Under the bill, foreign influenced corporations will be prohibited from contributing to Colorado SuperPACs, which spend money to influence candidate elections. Any corporation with a 1% ownership from a foreign government, a 5% ownership from a single non-US person or 20% aggregate ownership from multiple non-US persons will be prohibited from spending from corporate coffers to influence candidate campaigns via SuperPac spending.

The “Preventing Foreign Influence Act” is a continuation of the work Secretary Griswold started in 2019 with the “Clean Campaign Act,” which banned non-U.S. Citizens from spending on any type of political committee, required “Paid for By” disclaimers on communications to voters from any committee, stopped pre-candidate coordination, and began the work to shine light on dark money.

In 2019, Secretary Griswold led, and worked with the Colorado legislature to pass, one of the largest democracy reform packages in the nation, including campaign finance reform, lobbying reform, and expanded voting access.  The bill “Preventing Foreign Influence Act” will help Colorado combat foreign influence and dark money.

To read the bill, click here.

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