Colorado's voter participation efforts pay off

DENVER, Sept. 15, 2016 -- The Colorado Secretary of State’s office has been at the forefront of urging voter participation, and we continue to try to make it easier and more convenient than ever to vote.

Secretary of State Wayne Williams is stressing that message this month as September is National Voter Registration Month. The National Association of Secretaries of State created the event in 2012 to encourage voter participation and increase awareness about state requirements and deadlines for voting.

"The right to vote is the cornerstone of our republic and we want to make sure every Coloradan who is eligible can vote," Williams said.

The secretary is featured in a just-released video that urges Coloradans to register to vote or update their registrations. The video is a continuation of a 2012 campaign started by former Secretary of State Scott Gessler that is credited with increasing the voter rolls by around 350,000 people. (Click here to watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kNNXnEEp9M)

Colorado has the highest percentage of voter registration in the country at 87 percent of the eligible population, according to the Pew Center on the States. In 2008, Colorado ranked 26^th in the country.

Other Secretary of State efforts to boost voter registration include:

Text to vote. As of August, eligible Coloradans can simply text the word "Colorado" or "CO" to "2Vote" (28683) on their smartphones, and then open the link to the SOS online voter registration and election information site.

Online registration. Colorado in 2010 became the fourth state to allow online voter registration.

Postcards. The Secretary of State’s office sent out around 900,000 postcards in 2012 and 2014 encouraging people whose registrations weren’t current to participate. We plan to send out postcards again this year on Sept. 30.

Beginning Oct. 17, county clerks will mail ballots to the state’s 3 million active voters for the Nov. 8 election. Coloradans also can vote in person at polling centers in their counties.

A breakdown of Colorado’s active voters:

• 34.31 percent, unaffiliated
• 32.08 percent, Republican
• 31.99 percent, Democrat
• The rest belong to minor parties, such as the Green Party or Libertarian Party.