12 Go Vote Today

Cynthia: Hello everyone, this is Cynthia Margiotta with the Area Council of Government’s Area Agency on Aging, volunteering some time to do an interview with Shelley Roerhrs. She is with the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak region and their mission is to empower voters and defending democracy, thank you. The League of Women Voters has fought since 1920 to improve our systems of government and impact public policy through citizen education and advocacy. The League is a nonpartisan and grassroots organization. The League of Women Voters from the Pikes Peak area region has been active since 1937. Members actively promote voter and civic education by registering voters in high schools and nationalization ceremonies, attend city and council government meetings, present the pros and cons of the issues of our elections, and much more. The League of Women Voters has two separate and distinct roles: better service and citizen education and action advocacy.  

What this means to you guys who are listening, is the league’s mission is to inform voters about the issues and candidates on our ballots. Candidates and issue organizations fill out information provided to them in an online voter guide and voters can visit vote411.org for this convenient information. The League also encourages active participation, whether it’s in the office of an elected representative, City Council meetings, writing a letter to the editor, or at rallies. The program also empowers voters by emphasizing the power of the voter and promotes voting in every election: presidential, gubernatorial, municipal, primaries, and special elections.  

Wow, you guys do a lot!  

Shelley Roerhrs: We do, we do. We keep pretty busy, especially in a presidential year.  

Cynthia: I bet you do! Now, it’s like every commercial out there is about elections.  

Shelley Roerhrs: It is, it is. We try to strive like you mentioned the presidential, gubernatorial, and municipal, we want you to vote in every election. We don’t care who you vote for, we are a very nonpartisan group. But again, it doesn’t matter who you vote for! For us, as long as you vote in every election, that includes your primaries, municipal elections, and special elections as well.  

Cynthia: Yes, I agree with you it’s important to vote. We are leaving ourselves out of the discussion if we don’t vote.  

Shelley Roerhrs: Yes, ma’am.  

Cynthia: Let’s get to our first question!  

Q: We are a mail-in-ballot state. Is there a lot of voter fraud in a mail-in-ballot state? Will my vote be counted?  

Shelley Roerhrs: So, yes, 100%! Mail-in-ballots are safe. The unique thing about Colorado is that we’ve been a mail-in-ballot state for quite a while. They are pretty much the grade A of how other states basically relate to and say “this is what we want to do in compared to Colorado.” So, you know, there are no issues with mailing in your ballot, as long as you mail it in on time. We’ll get to kind of some dates later on as far as when you’re supposed to mail it in. But yes, mailing your ballot or you know, what’s even more convenient is if you don’t want to Mail it in, the El Paso County has all of those drop boxes. So, they are located all over the city and the county. Just go to one of those drop boxes and drop off your ballot if you don’t feel like mailing it in. Again, so another convenient way the drop-off box.  

Cynthia:  

Q: Where do the drop-off boxes tend to be?  

Shelley Roerhrs: I think like there sixty-something boxes across the county. I know there’s one on that, of course, the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder on Garden of the Gods typically have them. DMV places typically have them. Community centers, like your Municipal Court, have them. City locations, anywhere a lot of people congregate, that is a government facility, are typically where they’re going to have one of those drop boxes. I know there’s one down at the courthouse downtown as well.  

Cynthia: Yes, that’s typically where we drop ours off.  

Q: Do you have a calendar of important upcoming dates? 

Shelley Roerhrs: Well, I want to go back to when you said is there a lot of voter fraud. I want to solve voter fraud because you see a lot of that coming from our leaders who say mail-in ballots are not safe. I think just a couple weeks ago there was a time when our president was actually telling people to vote twice. That’s actually not a good thing, right? We don’t encourage that. It’s actually a felony in some states to vote twice. So from a voter fraud perspective, this is from Chuck Broerman, we have our own podcast called “Making Democracy Work” and we interviewed Chuck Broerman for this specific reason regarding voter fraud. Because, honestly, my dad thinks that mail-in-ballots are rot with fraud. Now, he comes from a state that does not have mail-in-ballots, so we try to educate him. Again, one of those things that the League of Women Voters does is try to educate voters. In my case, I’m trying to educate my father as a voter. Your mail-in-ballot, if you do choose to mail it in, is safe. It is not going to be manipulated. It will count. The great thing, again M. Broerman, the Clark County Recorder you know? They have specifically designed our ballots so they have a special barcode on special weighted paper that they know exactly when they come in. That might be a fraudulent ballot and the number of fraudulent ballots that actually come in is very, very minuscule. I think it’s a matter of the ones, that he said that came in, and someone voted twice. And again, it was very small. So the thought that we need to spend money on trying to fight voter fraud is, I think, somewhat comical actually. You know, if some people think that there’s voter fraud out there I would encourage them to actually talk to their Clerk and Recorder. The Clerk and Recorder is the person who deals with your voter registration in your elections. They know exactly what is going on. Just don’t believe everything that you see on T.V. or look at in the paper. It’s not necessarily the truth. But your last question was; will your vote be counted? I think yes, as long as you vote. That’s the most important thing, right? The most important thing is that you vote and yes, it will be counted.  

Cynthia: They have a specific weight, you know? I don’t know how anyone would mimic that so well.  

Shelley Roerhrs: There are some smart people out there, but again, I think that they’re doing things in other ways to manipulate our elections rather than this voter fraud that we’re focusing on. I think, for your listeners, yes drop it off if you feel that the mail-in- ballot is rot with fraud. Mail it in or go ahead and drop it off in one of those drop boxes knowing that that goes directly to the Clerk and Recorder’s office. There’s no in-between man and the post office is not in there. But, again, mail-in-ballots are safe. Here’s the thing, the military people didn’t have a choice, right? Overseas, people don’t have the choice to mail it in. You know, they have to mail-it-in.  

Cynthia: Right!  

Shelley Roerhrs: Your other question was about important upcoming dates. I’ll just kind of move into your other question! Military and overseas voters, they have already started mailing those ballots. So they are arriving in the next couple of days if you haven’t already received them. So, those specifically were already mailed in. Our ballots, for everybody else, will be mailed out on October 9th.  

Cynthia: Okay, good!  

Shelley Roerhrs: So that’s when we should be looking for them in the mail.  

Cynthia: That gives us plenty of time to do our individual research to see, you know, who do we want to vote for? I like that you guys are nonpartisan, that’s an important part of who you are because you’re not trying to convince people to vote one way or the other.  

Shelley Roerhrs: For candidates, I will say that. I’m going to preface that a little bit because we are going to get into some ballot issues, right? We do not specifically tell you who to vote for, especially candidates as a League of Women Voters. You know, that’s not our job. There are certain ballot issues that we do take a stance on, just because it goes with our advocacy. Whether that’s the park’s air quality or the water, right? Those are big, important issues of the league and for us. We do kind of take and give you. There is one proposition, 113, which is a state ballot issue. The national popular vote is coming up. And, again, we will get into those ballot issues. That is one where we would like you to vote yes, right? We don’t want the same issue to happen again with the Electoral College. You know, we want every vote to count and that is exactly how every vote counts, is the national popular vote.  

So, that is one thing but another date that is going to be important for your listeners. In the state of Colorado, two notices come out. One is a state notice that the state puts out, and it’s on state issues. Those come out around the same time as our local ballot issues, which are local to El Paso County and the city and certain things. The state does a blue book, and we have a tabor notice for the local stuff. So, there are specific things, you know, those are coming out probably in the next few weeks that you’ll see that. I know from vote 411, for your listeners, the League of Women Voters does vote for 411.org for candidates and any other issues pros and cons. You can go to vote411.org and get any information on the candidates. Now, the candidates have to fill it out and if you see that a candidate did not fill out the League of Women Voters nonpartisan vote 411 information, that tells you a lot about that candidate. They don’t even want to take the time to give you the information.  

This is a national thing so it’s not like just Colorado. This is a really good thing for candidates and issues, right? If you got an issue like Amendment B and Amendment C, we got a lot of stuff on the ballot this year. They try to shove it all in one year so it kind of is a lot. It really is. Well, the presidential year is obviously the biggest turn out here, right? The most turn out, it’s I think it’s like over 70% turn out, in a presidential year. So, it’s got a lot on the ballot.  

Cynthia: So, if we could get it to 95%, that would be great! 

Q: When do I need to mail it back?  

Shelley Roerhrs: So, if you’re going to be mailing it, you want to mail it at least seven days in advance. They’re actually even recommending 8 to 10 days, right? I would even say you want to get it in the mail 8 to 10 days in advance of November 3rd. It cannot be postmarked November 3rd and have it count here in the state of Colorado. They actually have to receive it by Election Day for it to count. In other states, as long as it’s postmarked it counts. In this state, you have to mail it in and it has to be received by November 3rd.  

Cynthia:  

Q: So eight to ten business days?  

Shelley Roerhrs: Correct! Or, drop it off the day of. Remember, at those drop-off centers, you can drop it off the day of the election, just like you’re voting on Election Day. Drop it off that day. If you mail it, it is 8 to 10 days in advance. If you drop it off, you can go the day of.  

Cynthia: That would be good!  

Q: Do they have lines at those things?  

Shelley Roerhrs: Typically, you might have one or two cars in front of you. Usually, they have people out there making sure that things go pretty smooth.  

Cynthia:  

Q: What do I do with it? Where do I take it?  

Shelley Roerhrs: Again, those drop-off centers. I will tell you two places in Colorado Springs. You can visit govotecolorado.gov or the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Ofice website. They have a list of the drop-off boxes there.  

Cynthia: Good.  

Shelley Roerhrs: If you have questions, call them. Their website has, literally, locations for ballot drop boxes and voter services centers. I forgot to mention one thing, they have these things called voter service centers here. El Paso County has them on Garden of the Gods, there are voter registration office. Then, they have these voter registration offices that are all kind of on steroids, just little pockets of accounting where you can go as well. So those are kind of, you know, all over. I would recommend going to the clerk and recorders office to kind of find exactly which one is closest to you.  

Cynthia:  

Q: Yeah, and if I’m not registered, how do I get registered? What do you do to be registered?  

Shelley Roerhrs: If you’re not registered, you can do it online or you can go in-person. With COVID, you know, online is best, as long as you have a driver’s license or ID. Go to votecolorado.gov, just go on there and it literally says “click register to vote.” OK?  

Cynthia:  

Q: It’s that easy?  

Shelley Roerhrs: It is that easy. Now, if you have a problem because sometimes it doesn’t accept your driver’s license or whatever, then you do have to go in-person. Again it’s a really simple registration here in Colorado. So you can go on the day of the election on November 3rd.  

My son did it, he turned 17 this spring so he was not 18 when the primaries came up. In the state of Colorado, if you are 17, you can register to vote and vote in a primary if you’ll be 18 before the general election. So we went the day of. he registered that day, and he voted in the primary. Now, of course, he’s voting in the general election as well because he turned 18. So, for that instance, you know, again, Colorado makes it so easy to vote. 

 I find it hard to believe sometimes when people have an excuse not to vote, right? There’s something else that I forgot to mention, in the state of Colorado, if you are a convicted felon, as long as you have served your time or you’re out on probation, you are good to go. You can go and register to vote as well.  

Cynthia: Oh!  

Shelley Roerhrs: I know, isn’t that amazing? So, again, if you served your time, whether you’re a convicted felon or not, you should not lose that right to vote. It is one of the fundamental things that we have. So, again, Colorado, if you know someone who is disenfranchised because they think “gosh I’m a convicted felon, I don’t have that right anymore,” they do in the state of Colorado! Some other states do as well. Here, go and register, I recommend it!  

Cynthia:  

Q: What if they are still in prison? Can they vote then?  

Shelley Roerhrs: Oh no, so if they had been convicted and they are in prison, I do not believe so. If they are awaiting trial, and not convicted, 100%! If they are still kind of in limbo, not yet, they can’t. Again, if you’re out and you served your time, go and register.  

Cynthia: Good!  

Shelley Roerhrs: One of the things is updating your information. It is not just about registering to vote, because a lot of people that we come across have already registered, right? You’re like, “gosh, what is the league doing if everyone is already registered?” It’s also important to update your information because there are a lot of inactive voters. That’s what they are called, “inactive voters.” You might not get a ballot, right? So, if you think “I may have moved since the last time I voted” …if the last time you voted was in the presidential year in 2016, or if something is happened, right? You know, there are a lot of military around here and a lot of people moving in. So we also encourage you to go to govotecolorado.gov because you can update your information right there as well. It’s really convenient to get your ballot.  

Cynthia: Yes, get that corrected. 

Q: If you don’t have a driver’s license, what can you use as an ID to register?  

Shelley Roerhrs: That’s a very good question and I’m going to have to refer to the Clerk and County Recorder’s Office. Typically, you’re going to need a passport, you’re going to need a military ID, or some other type of state-issued ID is what they require. You know you don’t have to have a driver’s license because the state will give you an I.D for free, right? In those instances, my first instinct is to say your passport, your free ID, or birth certificate. If you need to prove your identity, like to get a driver’s license. they would take any of those types of things. But, I’m going to refer to the Clerk and County Recorder’s Office, just to kind of confirm. It will say on there, govotecolorado.gov, exactly what you need. For online registration, you actually have to put in your driver’s license or state ID number, it does not let you put in your passport. So, if you have something other than that, you have to go to the office.  

Cynthia: Some people, when they’re no longer driving, they just let it expire.  

Shelley Roerhrs: Correct.  

Cynthia: They don’t need, in their opinion, they don’t need another form of identification.” I’m eighty, so I don’t drive anymore,” kind of thing. So that would be helpful, thank you.  

Shelley Roerhrs: I still think they need some form of ID, though. At some point, right? Usually, you know for any type of Medicare or Medicaid, don’t they need an ID?  

Cynthia: I think so, but some people just let it go and they just show their expired license. If their doctor says “no more driving” they may not drive anymore but they still have that.  

Q: So, what do I do if I don’t receive that ballot?  

Shelley Roerhrs: So go to govotecolorado.gov, or check with our El Paso County Clerk and Recorder. Their phone number, I’m going to give you that real quick, just because there are a lot of questions that we refer to them. That number is 719-575-8683 to vote. Again, 719-575-8683. You can go update your information with them. Again, go to govotecolorado.gov and you can update your information there. If you don’t receive your ballot, I would 100% either go to the El Paso County Clerk and Recorders Office or call them and find out why.  

Cynthia: Very good.  

Q: So, voting during COVID this year, what do the listeners here need to be careful of when voting during COVID?  

Shelley Roerhrs: Well, I think the main thing is, if you do go and vote in person, you want to wear the mask and take all those protocols. But, you know, if you don’t have to go and vote in-person, and you want to just drop off your ballot, that’s probably the best thing to do. Because of COVID, the only thing I can say is just don’t not vote. It is so easy to vote, even in the current situation. We have it much, much better than some states. I come from South Carolina and I think their representatives just allowed, so there if you want to vote in-person or get a mail-in-ballot, you have to have an excuse. You actually need to have a reason to get that. The excuse might be “I have to work” or “I’m out of town” … and, you know, a lot of people falsified that document because they didn’t want to vote on Election Day for whatever reason.  

But now, because of COVID, they’ve made it so that you don’t have to have an excuse. IT’s called “no excuse voting ” which should be that way anyway, just like in Colorado. It makes it so much easier for people to vote and why wouldn’t we want to make it easier for people to vote?  

Cynthia: Right!  

Shelley Roerhrs: So, in that case, again, during COVID, if you’re going to vote in person, I guess wear a mask. Other than that, it’s pretty easy to mail in your ballot or drop it off at one of the locations.  

Cynthia: There’s lots of incorrect information out there.  

Q: So, where do you go for the facts? You know, if you should really test the system and vote twice?  

Shelley Roerhrs: So, I’m going to go to the experts on this! We mentioned there is a lot of incorrect information out there, and again from even from some of our leaders who have basically said “let’s test the system, I want to see if it really works and if there is voter fraud?” Go to your County Clerk and Recorders Office, get information from there, and go to vote411.org. Again, the links have nonpartisan information. We don’t put that information in there, but candidates and the issues people if they are either pro or con, they put that information in there. That’s not us, okay?  

So that is nonpartisan information and that gives you the ability to make those decisions, rather than hearing it on TV from somebody that says, you know, somebody is going to take away your Second Amendment rights. Take those things with a grain of salt. They’re there to, you know, to sensationalize and hit on hot button issues that are going to make you all riled up. For a candidate to do that in a commercial, article, the news, a press release, or in an interview, something like that, they’re literally just trying to ignite. Maybe we need a little less of that, I guess and a little bit more of, you know, a common sense and down-to-earth kind of thinking. I don’t necessarily think just because somebody is telling me, like a star on television, a commercial, or another leader, another representative, telling me who to vote for. You know, I don’t necessarily take that.  

I’m not going to tell you who I vote for, in particular, but a lot of people will. That is my vote and I hold it very sacred to me. I think, from a voter perspective, where you get your facts is extremely important. Try to find a neutral place rather than the exact same place where you get your news from. That might be a little bit biased, right?  

Cynthia: You know, the wording for these things can be so confusing. I will be honest, my husband will both read the wording and try to share our interpretations. It’s horrible! The double negatives, and all of that stuff. So, you know finding the pros and cons is very important.  

Shelley Roerhrs: It is, and that’s where vote411.org comes in! For the League of Women Voters, we’ve invested a lot of time, resources, and energy into getting this right. We’ve been doing this for a long time, like you said, that’s a compilation of all of that information into one location. It doesn’t matter if you are in Kentucky, South Carolina, or Texas, they are specific to every single municipal election or ballot issue. You’ve got a couple of ballot issues, a couple of parks, and local issues, so those people who are pros and cons to each side of those are sending in their information now. You will be able to go to that but for vote411. It’s usually right around the same time as we get our ballots. You know October 5th, look for that. It might not be all up to date right now. Some may have put in candidates and put in early, thinking ahead. Others wait until the last minute, so we kind of know how that is. Some may not do it at all. If you have a candidate you’re about to vote for who has not put in information into this portal, it says a lot about your candidate. I would encourage people to go to thatvotefor11.org.  

Cynthia:  

Q: So when the candidate puts it in, does the League look at that to make sure that it’s clear to the voter?  

Shelley Roerhrs: No, we do not. I mean we what they put in is what they put in. They submit it. Now, I’m not on that technology end of it. I don’t think we go and, you know, scrutinize it or edit it. Basically, what they put in has a word limit, right? They have certain questions that we ask them that say “how would you vote on this issue?” There’s a bio and then there are some questions that we do tend to ask. In that instance, we don’t edit them we just submit them and let the voters decide.  

Cynthia: If they have a word limit, I bet they gotta keep it concise! I like that.  

Q: Is there anything special the League has coming up that you want to mention?  

Shelley Roerhrs: Well, obviously the election! You got 43 days from the time we are recording this. There are 43 days until the election. Tomorrow, September 22nd is national voter registration day, for us so that’s kind of a big day. The League of Women Voters tends to do a lot of voter registrations during this week, whether it’s a presidential year or not. That’s our focus is registering voters. For us, registration days are also for updating your information. I encourage your listeners to go to govotecolorado.gov and check out if your voter registration information is updated or if it is not.  

Then, a special thing for us, the League, of course, most people know we’ve been celebrating in August was the 100th celebration of the women’s right to vote. We know that not all women have had the right to vote for 100 years. White women have had that privilege. African American women have not had that privilege for 100 years. Asian American women and American Indian women have not had that right. We still have a long way to go on that. We do have a special celebration that was kind of postponed because of COVID in honor of the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. Also 100 years of going forward and what that looks like for women. It will look very different. We’re celebrating with a mural, as well as some other billboards around town or some other art around town to celebrate the women’s right to vote in the 100 years backward and forwards. If there’s anyone interested in joining the League, to help us with that, our website is LWVPPR.org. They can become a member there and they can help us with a mural, and they can if donate if they like. Again, we are A501C6, which we are working on our 501C3 transition, so we will be a tax-deductible organization. The mural itself, again, we’re starting our call to artists. Our committee and getting our jury together, but we’re also doing donations.  

Obviously, our League educates voters and empowers voters to take that step, right? We make sure you’re voting because it is so important. We also celebrate, on the other end, that we are women and we do bring something different to the table. I think for a little while it’s been to where we’ve…well, the Equal Rights Amendment hasn’t been ratified yet, right? For us, that was kind of one of those back burner things. We are still working to ratify the E.R.A. today, in 2020!! There’s so much work to be done and I do encourage listeners, whether you’re 17, whether you are 40, whether you’re 75, right? If you could take that step if you wanted to do more than just voting, come see us at the league.  

We encourage men, too. We do love that because it is a different perspective for us, right? You know, we are the League of Women Voters, but some men also advocate for women’s rights and equal rights for women and they are part of our membership as well. We do not discriminate against men.  

Cynthia: That’s important.  

Q: Then, my last question; if listeners want to become a member of the League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak region, what should they do?  

Shelley Roerhrs: It’s really simple, all they need to do is one of two things. You can either go to our website which is LWVPPR.org which stands for the League of Women Voters Pikes Peak region. Again, LWVPPR.org. Or, they can call us, since not everybody’s on the web. Give us a call at 520-5381. Whether you want to be on our voter services team, helping voter registrations, or updating information, or on the communications team. We’ve also got our advocacy who deal with air quality and they go and attend those meetings. We’ve got lots of different committees that you could participate in, whatever your passion is. We want your talents! Come on and join us and find the one that fits and move on in and get it done.  

Cynthia: Exactly!  

Q: Is there anything else you want to add that we didn’t talk about?  

Shelley Roerhrs: Basically, we have some upcoming podcasts that are specifically ballot-related. We kind of dive into those specific ballot issues like prop 113, which is a national popular vote. You’ve also got amendment B. There are a couple of local issues regarding parks and the tabor amendment, right? For those things, you know, we’ve got a couple of podcasts. Go to our website, again, LWVPPR.org. Click on our podcasts if you want more information. Again, go to vote411.org because there’s such a wealth of information there. Listeners can’t go wrong.  

Cynthia: That would be great! So, with that Shelley, we will end. I really, really appreciate your time, thank you. Thank you all for all our listeners, I hope you can join us again for our next podcast. Have a great day, I will talk to you soon!