No Spanish Ballots Printed For El Paso Co. Election

El Paso County will not be printing dual-language ballots for the Nov. 1 election. Election officials said they learned on Wednesday that the county will not be required to print ballots in Spanish and English.

Under the Voting Rights Act, ballots must be printed in a second language if five percent of voters are proficient in that language, but not English.

Costilla, Denver, and Rio Grande counties are required to print ballots in English and Spanish this year.

Seven other counties that had previously been required to print dual-language ballots are off the hook.

According to Census data, that may be because more and more Spanish-speaking voters are getting proficient enough in English that Spanish ballots are becoming unnecessary.

El Paso County Election Manager, Liz Olson, estimated that if the county was required to print a dual-language ballot, it would cost El Paso County taxpayers an additional $100,000 each election.

Even though ballots will not be printed in Spanish, Olson said there will still be help available for Spanish-speaking voters.

“We’ve got Spanish-speaking clerk and recorder staff that can provide assistance at our polling places,” said Olson.

Olson also said voters are allowed to bring a translator if they need help understanding the ballot.

Ballots must be turned into the Clerk and Recorder’s Office by 7 p.m. on Nov. 1. They can be mailed in or handed into one of the four locations in El Paso County.

Ballots can be turned in at the following locations:

Citizen Service Center 1675 W. Garden of the Gods Road

Centennial Hall (Downtown) 200 S. Cascade

Powers Office (Southeast Corner of Powers Blvd. and Airport Road) 5650 Industrial Place

Union Town Center (Albertsons Shopping Center) 8830 N. Union Blvd.