Your ballot is in the mail: what Colorado voters need to know for Nov. 3

Every active registered voter in Colorado gets a mail ballot automatically. The state conducts its elections primarily by mail, so voters do not need to request one. Clerks began the mailing on Oct. 2, the first day allowed, and counties including El Paso and Delta are sending theirs this week. Under a 2026 change in state law, clerks must now mail ballots between 29 and 25 days before the election, an earlier window than the previous 22 to 18 days.

Watch your mailbox and your address. Ballots are not forwarded, so anyone who has moved should update their registration and mailing address at GoVoteColorado.gov. That site also lets voters verify their registration, find their county clerk, locate the nearest drop box or voting center, and sign up for BallotTrax to get text, email or phone updates when their ballot is mailed, received and processed.

The deadlines matter more than the postmark, because the postmark does not count. Ballots must be received by the county clerk by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The state's guidance is to return ballots by mail by Oct. 26; El Paso County recommends its voters mail theirs by Oct. 27. After those dates, use a drop box or a Voter Service and Polling Center instead. The minimum number of required drop boxes must be open by Oct. 12, and voter centers by Oct. 19. Oct. 26 is also the last day to register and still be mailed a ballot; after that, register and vote in person.

What's on the ballot this year: the statewide races for governor, secretary of state, treasurer and attorney general, plus one U.S. Senate seat and all eight U.S. House seats. All 65 state House seats and 21 of the 35 state Senate seats are up as well. There are 14 statewide measures, and local races and issues vary by county.

The headline statewide measure is Proposition NN, the legislatively referred TABOR Revenue Cap Increase for K-12 Education. It asks voters to let the state keep and spend revenue that would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, increasing the state's investment in K-12 public schools by 2 percent a year for 10 years. The money would go to teacher pay and retention, smaller class sizes, and career and technical courses, with an independent audit of the spending published each year.

The other statewide measures are Propositions 134 through 137: male and female participation in school sports, a prohibition on certain surgeries for minors, a cap on the individual and corporate income tax rate, and dedicating sporting goods sales tax revenue to conservation. Voters in the Front Range Passenger Rail District, which spans parts of 13 counties from Pueblo to Larimer, will also see Ballot Issue 7A, funding for the Front Range passenger rail project known as the Colorado Connector.

The Secretary of State publishes the 2026 State Ballot Information Booklet, the Blue Book, explaining every statewide measure, and counties provide sample ballots. In El Paso County, ballots are being mailed starting Oct. 5, with drop boxes at Fountain Creek Regional Park and the Fountain Police Department, and a Voter Service and Polling Center at the Fountain Utilities Department opening Oct. 19. In Delta County, all 24-hour drop boxes opened Oct. 5 and the Voter Service and Polling Center opens Oct. 19. Voters are not restricted to the polling center nearest them.