By Elizabeth Wood West

The 2020 general election in November is 10 months away, but there are many other important elections this year and they start as early as the first week of March.

Colorado Presidential Primary

Colorado’s presidential primary election is Tuesday, March 3. This is the day that Colorado and several other states will choose their preference for president. The presidential race is the only contest on the presidential primary ballot. All other federal, state, and local races with more than one qualified candidate per party will be included on Colorado’s primary election ballot.

Colorado Democratic and Republican Caucuses

The Colorado Democratic and Republican parties will hold their caucuses on Saturday, March 7, following the presidential primary. Each party has a number of districts, which are made up of many precincts. Caucus attendees elect officers who will be responsible for organizing political activities within their party’s precinct. Caucus attendees also elect delegates and alternates to represent their precinct at each party’s county and/or district assemblies. Persons receiving the most votes at their precinct caucus become delegates to their county assembly for that precinct. Unaffiliated voters who want to participate in a party’s caucus must become a member of that party before attending the caucus. However, they are still eligible to vote in any participating party’s primary election.

Douglas County Democratic and Republican Assemblies

The Douglas County Democratic assembly is Saturday, March 21 and the Republican assembly is Saturday, March 28. The purpose of a county assembly is to designate county candidates for the primary election and to select delegates to the congressional district and Colorado state assemblies.

District Assembly

The dates for the Democratic and Republican district assemblies are determined by the chairperson of each party’s district committee, and they are held after the county assemblies. The purpose of a district assembly is to designate district level delegates to the national Democratic and Republican conventions. The delegates will nominate candidates for U.S. Congress, the Colorado General Assembly, the State Board of Education, the Board of Regents and District Attorneys.

Colorado State Assembly

The Colorado State Democratic and Republican assemblies are Saturday, April 18. The purpose of the state assembly is to nominate candidates for statewide offices for the primary election ballot. During the assembly, delegates will also be elected to each party’s national conventions.

Colorado Primary Election

The Colorado primary election is June 30. Democrat and Republican-nominated candidates from both the presidential primary and Colorado primary elections will be placed on the November 3 general election ballot. Winners from the November general election will be sworn into their respective offices in January 2021.

Other Information

Colorado voters vote via mail ballots only. Registered Democrats and Republicans may cast a ballot for candidates of the party they are affiliated with and will receive only their party’s mail ballot for the presidential primary and primary elections. If there is a minor party contest, voters affiliated with that minor party will receive their party’s mail ballot and may cast a ballot for those candidates.

Unaffiliated voters may cast a ballot for any one political party; they will receive two mail ballots – one Democratic and one Republican. They can vote only one ballot and are required to destroy the unvoted ballot in a secure manner such as shredding. If an unaffiliated voter votes multiple ballots and returns them in the same envelope, none of the ballots will count. Unaffiliated voters may vote in any party’s primary ballot, and it will not affiliate them with that party nor alter their registered affiliation.

For more information, contact:

• Douglas County Clerk & Recorder at www.douglas.co.us/elections/ or call 303-660-7444
• Douglas County Democrats: www.douglasdemocrats.org
• Douglas County Republicans: www.dcgop.org
• Colorado Democrats: www.coloradodems.org
• Colorado Republicans: www.cologop.org