Ahead of the coordinated election in November, officials are sharing information on major upcoming ballot measures as well as new technology aimed at preserving election integrity in El Paso County.

Tuesday was also National Voter Registration Day, where citizens were encouraged to register to vote or check the accuracy of their current registration status and address ahead of when ballots are mailed on Oct. 16.

El Paso County has 481,564 active voters, or people who will be receiving ballots this year, according to county Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker. That is 63% of the county’s population, including residents under age 18 who are not eligible to vote.

Almost half of the county’s active voters — 49.5% — are unaffiliated with any political party. Registered Republicans make up 30.5% and registered Democrats make up 17.9% of voters, according to county data.

Voter participation in the county in the 2022 election was about 62%, up from 36% in the 2021 election but down from 84% in 2020, the data showed.

Citizens who have recently changed their name or moved addresses within Colorado must update their voter registration.

Those wishing to do so, or those who wish to simply review their current registration information on file, could do so at GoVoteColorado.gov.

Schleiker noted that under Colorado’s Automatic Voter Registration system, implemented in May 2020, eligible voters who show proof of citizenship are automatically registered to vote when applying for or renewing a driver’s license.

A whole new camera and livestreaming system will also be present at ballot boxes and online to help further preserve election integrity this year, Schleiker said.

As part of the “major project” Schleiker envisioned when he took office, each of the county’s 39 ballot boxes will be equipped with electric and solar-powered camera technology that can livestream ballot box activity to the county’s website, he said.

While boxes have previously required surveillance under Colorado law, “archaic” cameras only reliant on electricity complicated where boxes could be installed in more rural places like Cascade, and retrieving massive video files could take weeks, he said.

“The technology was old and was extremely inefficient, but to me, (the cameras’ main rea

son) is full transparency and putting that out there where citizens can sit there and take a look for themselves what’s going on with their neighborhood ballot box,” Schleiker said.

He said the new video footage can be stored more efficiently for up to 10 years, which “far exceeds” the 25 months required by law.

As of Tuesday, 40% of the cameras had been installed since crews began on Sept. 13, he said.

While Colorado citizens can register to vote on the day of the election, registering early ensures they can vote on several major state and local ballot measures, Schleiker said.

One of those state questions will be Proposition HH, a controversial Democrat-backed initiative that will ask voters whether to use the surplus from the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) to reduce property taxes, fund school districts and backfill counties, water districts, fire districts, ambulance or hospital districts and other local governments.

Colorado Springs residents will decide whether to allow the city to retain $4.75 million in TABOR excess tax revenues to help build a new police training facility officials say will help Colorado Springs recruit, retain and adequately train police officers.

In Fountain, voters will decide whether the city becomes a member of the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority, which collects a 1% sales tax that pays for some of the region’s largest road extensions, maintenance and expansion projects.

All 17 of El Paso County’s school districts will have board seats up for reelection as well, Schleiker said.

“We voters are going to be electing individuals to represent those school districts and make major decisions” for taxpayers in any given area in the county, he said.