Don't mail your ballot now, Montezuma County clerk's office says
About 24 percent of the county's 20,310 mail ballots were back as of Monday night. The office says anything posted from here may not arrive by the 7 p.m. Election Day deadline.
Montezuma County has had about a quarter of its mail ballots returned with six days to go, and the clerk’s office is telling voters to stop using the post.
The deputy clerk told county commissioners on Tuesday morning that 5,000 ballots had come back as of the night before, out of 20,310 mailed — about 24 percent. Monday, October 26, was the last day the office mailed ballots out, and she said she would not recommend that ballots be mailed back from now on, because they might not reach the office in time.
That deadline is a hard one. A completed ballot has to be in the Clerk and Recorder’s possession by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3. The county’s election page states it in capitals: postmarks will not be accepted.
Graphic: Cortez Current. Source: Montezuma County clerk’s report to the commissioners, October 27, 2026
The pace has been steady rather than brisk. The same office told commissioners that more than 1,000 ballots came in on the first day of in-person voting, October 19, the day about 200 people rallied at Veterans Park to urge people to vote early.
“We got 24 percent,” Commissioner Kent Lindsay said after her report. “We can do better than that.”
Where to put it instead
Six drop boxes are open around the clock until 7 p.m. on Election Day:
- Montezuma County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, 140 W. Main St., Suite 1, Cortez
- Cortez City Hall, 123 Roger Smith Ave., Cortez
- Dolores Town Hall, 601 Central Ave., Dolores
- Mancos Town Hall, 117 N. Main St., Mancos
- Lewis Post Office, 18794 Highway 491, Lewis
- Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Headquarters, 125 Mike Wash Road, Towaoc
Anyone who has not received a ballot, or who has spoiled one, can get a replacement in person at the Cortez Voter Service and Polling Center at Montezuma County Annex 1, 107 N. Chestnut St. The county’s page gives its weekday hours as 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, October 31, as 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The center is also where someone can register and vote for the first time, update a registration or use accessible voting equipment.
The county’s two election pages still do not agree on the last weekday the Cortez center is open — one gives the weekday period as October 19 to 29 and the other as October 19 to 30, a difference of Friday, October 30. If you plan to vote in person that Friday, call the Elections Office at 970-565-3728 first.
On Election Day itself, November 3, every voter service and polling center in the county is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.: the Cortez annex, the Ute Mountain Ute Community Center at 495 Sunset Blvd. in Towaoc, the Dolores Public Library at 1002 Railroad Ave. and the Mancos Public Library at 211 W. First St. The Towaoc center also opens the day before, Monday, November 2, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The clerk’s office said its recording, vital statistics and motor vehicle counters will be closed on Election Day. Motor vehicle transactions can still be done at dmv.colorado.gov.
What is on the ballot, from the two county commissioner seats to the statewide measures and Cortez’s lodgers tax question, is set out in the Current’s voter guide. The county’s own 2026 general election page carries the official dates and locations.