News5 is helping you prepare for Election 2020 with guides to find out what's on the ballot, what it means to you, and where to deliver your ballot across the region. Colorado has used a mail-in ballot system for years that's been touted as one of the safest methods.
Ballots for this year's general election are mailed out on October 9 by local clerk and recorder offices. We'll soon see a record number of ballot drop boxes across the state as local officials go the extra mile to guarantee every registered voter can take part.
If you have not registered to vote yet in Colorado, the deadline is October 26 if you want to receive a ballot by mail. You'll still be able to register to vote and cast your ballot in person at a Voter Polling and Service Center up to 7pm on the election day, Tuesday, November 3.
Not sure if you are registered to vote in Colorado? Use the state's Find My Voter Registration system.
Find more information by clicking here to visit our Election 2020 page.
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We've compiled the following information from the Colorado Secretary of State's Office to help voters become informed on the issues on this year's ballot.
Amendment B - Senate Concurrent Resolution SCR20-001 - Repeal Property Tax Assessment Rates
Referred to the voters by the state legislature
Without increasing property tax rates, to help preserve funding for local districts that provide fire protection, police, ambulance, hospital, kindergarten through twelfth grade education, and other services, and to avoid automatic mill levy increases, shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution to repeal the requirement that the general assembly periodically change the residential assessment rate in order to maintain the statewide proportion of residential property as compared to all other taxable property valued for property tax purposes and repeal the nonresidential property tax assessment rate of twenty-nine percent?
Text of legislative bill (PDF)
Click here for News5 coverage on the issue
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Amendment C - House Concurrent Resolution HCR20-1001 - Bingo Raffles Allow Paid Help and Repeal Five-Year Minimum
Referred to the voters by the state legislature
Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning the conduct of charitable gaming activities, and, in connection therewith, allowing bingo-raffle licensees to hire managers and operators of games and reducing the required period of a charitable organization's continuous existence before obtaining a charitable gaming license?
Text of legislative bill (PDF)
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Amendment 76 - Initiative #76 - Citizenship Qualification of Electors
Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution requiring that to be qualified to vote at any election an individual must be a United States citizen?
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Amendment 77 - Initiative #257 - Local Voter Approval of Gaming Limits in Black Hawk, Central City, and Cripple Creek
Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution and a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning voter-approved changes to limited gaming, and, in connection therewith, allowing the voters of Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek, for their individual cities, to approve other games in addition to those currently allowed and increase a maximum single bet to any amount; and allowing gaming tax revenue to be used for support services to improve student retention and credential completion by students enrolled in community colleges?
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Proposition EE - House Bill HB20-1427 - Cigarette Tobacco and Nicotine Products Tax
Referred to the voters by the state legislature
Shall state taxes be increased by $294,000,000 annually by imposing a tax on nicotine liquids used in e-cigarettes and other vaping products that is equal to the total state tax on tobacco products when fully phased in, incrementally increasing the tobacco products tax by up to 22% of the manufacturer's list price, incrementally increasing the cigarette tax by up to 9 cents per cigarette, expanding the existing cigarette and tobacco taxes to apply to sales to consumers from outside of the state, establishing a minimum tax for moist snuff tobacco products, creating an inventory tax that applies for future cigarette tax increases, and initially using the tax revenue primarily for public school funding to help offset revenue that has been lost as a result of the economic impacts related to COVID-19 and then for programs that reduce the use of tobacco and nicotine products, enhance the voluntary Colorado preschool program and make it widely available for free, and maintain the funding for programs that currently receive revenue from tobacco taxes, with the state keeping and spending all of the new tax revenue as a voter-approved revenue change?
Text of legislative bill (PDF)
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Proposition 113 - Senate Bill SB19-042 - National Popular Vote
Shall the following Act of the General Assembly be approved: An Act concerning adoption of an agreement among the states to elect the President of the United States by national popular vote, being Senate Bill No. 19-042?
Text of legislative bill (PDF)
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Proposition 114 - Initiative #107 - Restoration of Grey Wolves
Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning the restoration of gray wolves through their reintroduction on designated lands in Colorado located west of the continental divide, and, in connection therewith, requiring the Colorado parks and wildlife commission, after holding statewide hearings and using scientific data, to implement a plan to restore and manage gray wolves; prohibiting the commission from imposing any land, water, or resource use restrictions on private landowners to further the plan; and requiring the commission to fairly compensate owners for losses of livestock caused by gray wolves?
Click here for News5 coverage of this issue
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Proposition 115 - Initiative #120 - Prohibition on Late-Term Abortions
Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning prohibiting an abortion when the probable gestational age of the fetus is at least twenty-two weeks, and, in connection therewith, making it a misdemeanor punishable by a fine to perform or attempt to perform a prohibited abortion, except when the abortion is immediately required to save the life of the pregnant woman when her life is physically threatened, but not solely by a psychological or emotional condition; defining terms related to the measure including “probable gestational age” and “abortion,” and excepting from the definition of “abortion” medical procedures relating to miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy; specifying that a woman on whom an abortion is performed may not be charged with a crime in relation to a prohibited abortion; and requiring the Colorado medical board to suspend for at least three years the license of a licensee whom the board finds performed or attempted to perform a prohibited abortion?
Click here for News5 coverage of this issue
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Proposition 116 - Initiative #306 - State Income Tax Rate Reduction
Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes reducing the state income tax rate from 4.63% to 4.55%?
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Proposition 117 - Initiative #295 - Voter Approval Requirement for Creation of Certain Fee-Based Enterprises
Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes requiring statewide voter approval at the next even-year election of any newly created or qualified state enterprise that is exempt from the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado constitution, if the projected or actual combined revenue from fees and surcharges of the enterprise, and all other enterprises created within the last five years that serve primarily the same purpose, is greater than $100 million within the first five fiscal years of the creation or qualification of the new enterprise?
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Proposition 118 - Initiative #283 - Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program
Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning the creation of a paid family and medical leave program in Colorado, and, in connection therewith, authorizing paid family and medical leave for a covered employee who has a serious health condition, is caring for a new child or for a family member with a serious health condition, or has a need for leave related to a family member’s military deployment or for safe leave; establishing a maximum of 12 weeks of family and medical leave, with an additional 4 weeks for pregnancy or childbirth complications, with a cap on the weekly benefit amount; requiring job protection for and prohibiting retaliation against an employee who takes paid family and medical leave; allowing a local government to opt out of the program; permitting employees of such a local government and self-employed individuals to participate in the program; exempting employers who offer an approved private paid family and medical leave plan; to pay for the program, requiring a premium of 0.9% of each employee’s wages, up to a cap, through December 31, 2024, and as set thereafter, up to 1.2% of each employee’s wages, by the director of the division of family and medical leave insurance; authorizing an employer to deduct up to 50% of the premium amount from an employee’s wages and requiring the employer to pay the remainder of the premium, with an exemption for employers with fewer than 10 employees; creating the division of family and medical leave insurance as an enterprise within the department of labor and employment to administer the program; and establishing an enforcement and appeals process for retaliation and denied claims?
