How to vote in Douglas County

Douglas County starts mailing ballots for the November 3, 2026 general election on October 2. It goes to the address on your voter registration record, not necessarily where you live now. Military and overseas voters get theirs earlier, starting September 18.

If it has not arrived by October 14, call Douglas County Elections at 303-660-7444. You can also get a replacement ballot at any Voter Service and Polling Center once they open on October 19, right through Election Day. Ballots cannot be forwarded by the post office, so a ballot sent to an old address never reaches you — it goes back to the Elections Office.

Only if you mail it. The Town of Castle Rock states plainly that the voter pays postage when returning a ballot by mail, and the county recommends a Forever Stamp and allowing two to nine business days for delivery. Using one of the 23 ballot drop boxes costs nothing.

No. This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in Colorado voting. Your ballot must be physically received by Douglas County Elections, or be in a drop box, by 7 p.m. on Election Day. The postmark date does not count. If it is within about a week of the election, use a drop box instead of the mail.

Yes. Colorado allows you to register and vote in person at a Voter Service and Polling Center through 7 p.m. on Election Day. You can also register or update your registration online any time at GoVoteColorado.gov. The one hard cutoff is October 26: that is the last day you can request that a ballot be mailed to you.

You get a chance to fix it. If the signature on your return envelope does not match your record, or your ID is missing, the county contacts you and you have until 11:59 p.m. on November 12 to cure it. That is nine days after Election Day, so a ballot flagged on November 3 is not a lost vote unless you ignore the notice.

Yes. You can get a replacement if your ballot was lost, damaged, destroyed, incorrectly voted, or never arrived, or if you are an inactive voter who never received one. You will need identification and you sign a sworn statement about why. The original ballot is voided — and if both somehow get cast, the first one returned is the one that counts.

Yes, and you do it by changing the ballot address on your voter record rather than your registration address. That applies to college students living away from Douglas County, and to snowbirds and long-term travelers. Change it back when you return, because every future ballot goes to whatever ballot address is on file. Military and overseas voters have a separate process under UOCAVA and can receive a ballot by email, fax, or mail.

It is a staffed location where you can do the things a drop box cannot: register to vote or update your registration, replace a ballot, vote in person, or use an ADA-accessible voting machine. You can also just drop off a voted ballot. Douglas County opens them in three waves — four locations on October 19, nine more on October 30, and ten more on November 2.